Takeaways can face insurance claims for many different reasons, hence the reason that most have a valid takeaway insurance policy in force. There are various different policies available, many that offer the same skeleton or basic cover. The main denominator between the insurers is, as with most products, price. But, this is no, and should not be the only thing that makes the difference between one product and another. A BMW, Audi or Lexus will cost you more than a Kia, Hyundai or Ford. The reason for the difference is the quality and what the brand stands for.

It is the same with your business insurance policies, there is a price differential and usually, this is because there is a corresponding cover differential. You only get what you pay for is very, very true for your insurance, particularly when faced with a claim.

You are faced with choosing between quote A at £650 per year and quote B at £700, so which one do you choose? The one with the better cover of course. This does not necessarily mean though that the cheaper one is the worse product. Many insurers of takeaways and restaurants, who operate at the cheaper end of the scale, are now offering commercial legal expenses insurance in their packages. Whilst the polices that are too cheap are sometimes not worth buying, it does not always follow that you should ignore your cheapest quote.

Public liability insurance will pay if someone is injured on your premises. Part of the claims settlement also includes all legal costs and fees in defending an action against you. It is difficult sometimes to understand where your commercial legal expenses insurance falls into this. You may think that your public, products and employers liability cover will pay out for most eventualities.

If an employee is injured, you would make a claim under the employers liability cover, if this happened during the course of their work and you have been negligent. But, what if that same employee takes you to an employment tribunal? No-one suffered an accident at work, but there will be large legal fees to pay. This is where your commercial legal expenses insurance kicks in.

Although the post says do you need this as a takeaway owner (which you do) it is the same story for every single type of business that has employees. However well you get on with your employee, there is always the potential that this relationship will become soured at some point, for reasons that may, or may not exist.

We are not saying that all employees that take their employers to a tribunal are making this up. What we are saying is that the onus falls squarely on the employers shoulders to be able to disprove their allegations. Without some form of legal advice and help in this process, you can rapidly find yourself on the receiving end of a judgement in your employee (or ex-employees) favour. This is going to cost you, in addition to the legal fees, potentially thousands and thousands of pounds. If the option is there to take the commercial legal expenses, make sure that you go for it.

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