What Insurance Does a Domiciliary Care Agency Need?

A practical guide to the insurance covers most UK domiciliary and home care agencies should consider.

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THE KEY INSURANCES A DOMICILIARY CARE AGENCY SHOULD CONSIDER

A Simple Overview of What Cover a Home Care Agency Typically Needs

Starting or running a domiciliary care agency raises a common question: “What insurance do we actually need?” Some covers are legal requirements, others are often demanded in contracts, and some are there to protect the financial future of your business.

This guide explains the main types of insurance relevant to home care providers, why they matter, and how they normally fit together in a single care insurance package – so you can have informed conversations with your broker, regulator and commissioners.

The Core Insurance Covers Most Domiciliary Care Agencies Need

Every agency is different, but most UK domiciliary care providers will at least consider the following core covers as a starting point:

  • Public Liability – for injury or property damage to service users and the public.
  • Employers’ Liability – a legal requirement if you employ staff.
  • Medical Malpractice / Treatment Risk – for errors in care & treatment.
  • Professional Indemnity – for alleged errors in advice, assessments or records.
  • Management / Directors’ Liability – for decisions made by owners and directors.
  • Office & Property Insurance – for your office, contents and equipment.
  • Business Interruption – where appropriate, for loss of income after insured damage.
  • Cyber & Data Insurance – for care records and electronic systems (where available).
  • Commercial Motor / Fleet – if you provide transport or use company vehicles.
  • Legal Expenses – for certain employment and contract disputes.
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Key Liability Covers Explained for Home Care Providers

The main insurances that protect your agency when things go wrong in people’s homes.

Public Liability & Employers’ Liability

  • Public Liability – covers claims from service users or members of the public who suffer injury or property damage linked to your care activities (for example, a fall caused by your staff or damage to a client’s property).
  • Employers’ Liability – legally required if you employ staff. It covers claims from employees who are injured or become ill because of their work (for example, manual handling injuries or slips and trips while visiting clients).
  • These two covers are often packaged together for domiciliary care agencies within the same policy.
  • Commissioners and frameworks typically specify minimum limit requirements (often £5m or £10m).

Medical Malpractice & Professional Indemnity

  • Medical Malpractice / Treatment Risk – responds to allegations that the care or treatment you provided was negligent or unsafe (for example, incorrect moving & handling, medication errors or poor clinical practice).
  • Professional Indemnity – responds to allegations around care planning, assessments, record keeping, advice and professional judgement, rather than hands-on care.
  • For domiciliary care, these are often combined in a single care-sector wording tailored to your activities.
  • Increasingly important as packages become more complex and multidisciplinary teams grow.

We can walk you through the difference between “public liability”, “professional indemnity” and “medical malpractice” so you know what each one does for your agency.

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Additional Insurance Covers Many Home Care Agencies Consider

Not always mandatory – but often important for resilience and contract readiness.

Property, Business & Management Protection

  • Office & Contents – your premises, furniture, IT and equipment.
  • Business Interruption – helps protect income and overheads after insured physical damage (e.g. a serious fire at your office).
  • Management Liability / Directors & Officers – protects directors and senior managers against claims relating to alleged mismanagement, employment issues or regulatory breaches.
  • Fidelity / Employee Dishonesty (where available) – for certain losses caused by staff theft or fraud.

Cyber, Motor & Legal Expenses Insurance

  • Cyber & Data Insurance – increasingly relevant as care records and rostering systems move online. May help with breaches, ransomware and data recovery (where available).
  • Commercial Motor / Fleet – for company vehicles used to visit service users, transport staff or deliver equipment.
  • Legal Expenses Insurance – can assist with certain employment disputes, contract issues and other legal matters.
  • Optional abuse allegation / safeguarding extensions may also be available in some care-sector wordings.
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Insurance for Start-Up vs Established Domiciliary Care Agencies

What you might need on day one – and how that can change as you grow.

Start-Up Home Care Agencies

  • You will usually need core liability and malpractice cover before you start providing regulated care.
  • CQC registration and local authority contracts may require evidence of insurance, including specified limits.
  • Even with a small team, employers’ liability is normally required if you employ staff.
  • Start-ups often begin with basic office/property cover, then add more as the business grows.
  • A broker can help you avoid over-buying cover when your turnover and caseload are still small.

Growing & Established Care Providers

  • As turnover and staffing increase, policy limits and structures may need to be reviewed and adjusted.
  • More complex or high-dependency packages may require enhanced malpractice/PI wordings.
  • Commissioners, case managers and ICBs may request higher limits or specific extensions.
  • Management liability, cyber and business interruption become more relevant as the organisation scales.
  • Regular reviews help keep cover aligned to your current risk, not just how you started.
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Why Use Insure24 to Arrange Domiciliary Care Insurance?

Care Sector Focused, Not Generic Commercial Insurance

  • We specialise in health & social care risks, including home care and complex care.
  • We understand care terminology, CQC expectations and commissioner requirements.
  • We can translate your regulated activities into the language insurers use.
  • We help you avoid policies that don’t properly reflect real-world care practice.

Practical Help Deciding What Cover You Need

  • We explain which covers are usually essential, and which are optional extras.
  • We review your existing schedule and highlight any gaps or overlaps.
  • We help you line up cover with contracts, frameworks and funding requirements.
  • We remain available as your service mix and complexity change over time.
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Common Insurance Mistakes Made by Domiciliary Care Agencies

Issues we regularly see when reviewing home care insurance arrangements.

Underestimating or Mis-describing the Risk

  • Describing services as “home help only” when complex care is delivered in practice.
  • Failing to mention higher-risk tasks such as medication administration or hoisting.
  • Not updating the policy when moving into complex/24-7 packages.
  • Not reviewing limits when turnover, staff numbers and packages grow.

Missing or Inadequate Key Covers

  • Relying only on public liability without appropriate malpractice/PI cover.
  • Assuming company vehicles are covered under personal motor insurance.
  • Not checking how abuse, safeguarding and data/cyber risks are treated.
  • Buying multiple policies from different providers with unnecessary overlaps.
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“We weren’t sure which covers were essential for a home care agency. Insure24 explained everything in plain language and built a package that matched our contracts and growth plans.”

Registered Manager, Domiciliary Care Start-Up

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  • Clarify which covers are legal requirements versus contractual expectations.
  • Align insurance with your real-world service model and risk profile.
  • Help ensure you’re not underinsured in critical areas of care delivery.
  • Build a package that can grow as your agency, caseload and complexity develop.
  • Free up your time to focus on care quality, recruitment and service development.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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What insurance is legally required for a domiciliary care agency?

In most cases, employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement if you employ anyone – including carers, office staff, bank staff or casual workers. Other covers, such as public liability or malpractice, are not strictly legal obligations but are widely regarded as essential for operating safely and meeting contractual or regulatory expectations.

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Is public liability enough on its own for a home care provider?

Usually not. Public liability helps with injury or property damage claims, but it is not designed to cover clinical errors, care planning issues or professional judgement. Most domiciliary care agencies benefit from a combined wording that includes public liability, medical malpractice and professional indemnity as a minimum.

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What limits of cover should we choose for domiciliary care insurance?

Required limits vary by commissioner, framework and risk profile, but many home care agencies carry £5m or £10m on public and employers’ liability. Malpractice/PI limits may mirror these or be set separately. We can review your contracts and recommend realistic limits based on your turnover, caseload and complexity.

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Do we need different insurance if we provide complex care or high-dependency packages?

You may need a more specialist wording, rather than a basic “home help” policy. Complex clinical tasks, high-dependency packages and behaviour that challenges can require enhanced malpractice and liability cover. It’s important that your insurer understands exactly what you do so the policy can be structured appropriately.

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Do we need insurance before we get our first care package?

In practice, yes. You will usually be asked to provide proof of insurance by commissioners, case managers or frameworks before you start delivering regulated care – and you will need employers’ liability as soon as you employ staff. We can help put cover in place at an appropriate level for the early stages of your agency.

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How often should a domiciliary care agency review its insurance?

At least annually at renewal – but sooner if there are major changes, such as new complex packages, significant growth in staff or turnover, a change in business model, new commissioners or any serious incidents. We encourage agencies to treat insurance as part of their ongoing governance, not just a once-a-year tick-box.

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Can you review our current policy and tell us what’s missing or duplicated?

Yes. If you send us your current schedule and a brief outline of your services, we can highlight obvious gaps, overlaps and potential issues. From there, we can either improve your existing structure or look at alternative options in the care insurance market.

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Will a claims history stop us getting cover as a domiciliary care agency?

Not necessarily. Insurers will want details of what happened and what you’ve done since to reduce risk. Many long-standing providers will have some incident history. Our role is to help you present that honestly but constructively, focusing on learning and improvement rather than just the headline claims figures.

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Can we combine all our cover into one domiciliary care insurance package?

Often, yes. Many insurers offer combined care-sector packages that bring together liability, malpractice, PI, property and sometimes management liability. Where that’s not suitable, we can still build a joined-up programme so that each policy works alongside the others rather than overlapping or leaving gaps.

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How do we get started if we’re unsure what cover we need?

You don’t need all the answers before you speak to us. Start by telling us what your agency does (or plans to do), who you support, and where you are in your journey (start-up or established). We’ll then outline the typical cover for services like yours, explain your options in plain language and build a quote around your real-world risk.

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