Reasons Why Tradesman Need Legal Expenses Insurance

It is essential for anyone operating as a sole trader or limited company in the UK to protect themselves against the multitude of pitfalls that face the self-employed. Most duties and responsibilities are widely known; submit your tax return on time, make sure you record your expenses, and get sufficient public liability insurance in place, but for tradespeople, some common dangers can be overlooked. Legal disputes such as debt recovery (that dodgy client still hasn’t paid their invoice?) or contract disputes (is the client going back on what was initially agreed?) are the bane of the honest tradesman, and we would like to highlight the issue, and let you know how you can protect yourself.

Legal Expenses Insurance - WHAT IS IT?

Put simply, having Legal Expenses Insurance protects your business against the financial impact of raising or defending a legal dispute or claim. The cost of legal support in the UK is on the rise, and having insurance in place offers financial protection for your business should it face any form of legal dispute or claim. The most common legal issues you may find are employment disagreements, property disputes and criminal prosecutions.

Working as a self-employed tradesman and running your own business can be hard enough without having to come up against a wide range of legal issues. A policy of this nature will help protect you financially, and provide defence and representation should you ever be in a moment of need.

7 Reasons why you need Legal Expenses Insurance

• Covers Costs of Legal Proceedings

So now you know what Legal Expenses Insurance is, it's time to understand the cost to a business like yours if you were ever caught up in a legal claim without it. No matter whether you have a legal claim made against you or your business in the small claims courts or at a high court tribunal, having legal proceedings brought against you can turn into an absolute money pit. Remember, Rhino’s Legal Expenses Cover provides £50,000 cover in defence costs.

• Defence & Representation

Taking your Legal Expenses Insurance out with Rhino Trade Insurance grants you the added security of defence and representation in the event that a legal case is made against you. This level of defence and representation will be supplied up to the value of £50,000 and will even provide defence at tribunal level if required. Simply put, our legal cover gives you a full legal defence in the event of a claim.

• It's Affordable

This point can't be stressed enough - it is far more cost-effective than handling it all yourself should a legal claim crop up. At Rhino Trade Insurance, you can get Legal Expenses Insurance for as little as £6.44 a month. In the grand scheme of things, that's the cost of a frothy toffee cappuccino in your local coffee chain. Legal fees start at hundreds of pounds an hour, so regardless of how squeaky clean you consider yourself and your customers to be, you can’t deny that our prices are on point. A great way to look at this type of policy is that you wouldn't need to save rainy day money in case anything were to go wrong with your business. You'd be free to spend that extra cash on your own life, like enjoying a few extra pints down the pub or a family holiday!

• Jury Duty Cover

Ever been called for jury duty? No me neither, but I’ve always found the idea very exciting. You think about jury duty and suddenly it’s all 12 Angry Men debating life or death, but unfortunately the reality is usually a lot more mundane. How can being called for jury duty affect my business? I hear you ask. Well, if you are summoned for jury duty, you will not be able to work and your income would suffer as a result. It’s one of the most frustrating things about being a tradesman when your letter from the Crown eventually arrives. Our Legal Expenses Insurance provides a daily benefit if you are summoned to serve as a juror and therefore can’t work.

• A Wide Range of Cover

Rhino's policy has been designed to provide cover for up to £50,000 of legal fees concerning any of the following sections of cover:

• Employment disputes - Should you have issues with any staff
• Criminal prosecution defence - Should health and safety be a risk on-site
• Jury service allowance - Needed in court? You're covered.
• Property disputes - Claims against ownership or tenancy? 
• Data protection - In a data-driven world, you need to protect your vital info. 
• Personal injury - injured at work? We have your back.
• Debt recovery - Legal Expenses incurred? We can help get them back.
• Restrictive covenants - Breach of contract? We'll help with any losses you have.
• Wrongful arrest defence - Malicious prosection? We are there for you!

So that you get a clearer picture of all that is listed above, you will find definitions and sections on all of these pieces of cover in the policy documentation and wording. If you are still lost, you can get help via our business support helpline. 

• Increased Cover

With Rhino, we are used to providing tailor-made policies for the valuable tradesmen and women in the UK. If you need to discuss some specific coverage options for your business, then give our Leicester based team a call, and we can go through your needs and arrange the right level of cover for your business. Should you need to increase your Legal Expenses Insurance to £100,000, just let us know and we’ll make it so.

• Added Protection

As a self-employed Tradesperson, your business is your livelihood. There's absolutely no reason to take a risk and not cover your own back in this day and age. Risks and hazards present themselves to you on a daily basis, so consider protecting your livelihood now - you've worked so hard to get this far! Let's take a brief look at a few examples of how Legal Expenses Insurance protects your business: 

• It's a Tuesday morning and an employee claims against you for wrongful dismissal. We all have heard about somebody losing their job and feeling unjust. From this, you will need to defend yourself at an employment tribunal.
• There could be an accident at work that falls under Health and Safety legislation meaning you could become the subject of a criminal prosecution - in which you may need defending.
• Imagine you are called to do jury service - the pain, we get it! However, Legal Expenses Insurance will grant you cover for your loss of earnings up to £100 per day, £1,000 per claim.

We could give various other examples, but as we said, if you are interested and would like to hear more, give one of our insurance experts a call now on 0116 243 7904.

Why choose Rhino for your Legal Expenses Insurance?

Our team of insurance superstars have been hard at it for 20+ years in the insurance game. We know a good policy when we see one, and our Legal Expenses Insurance is just that. We don't look to confuse you or fill your mind with a load of jargon. We are simple, straightforward and give the best price on the market. 

Don't believe us? Just check out our thousands of 5-star reviews from fellow tradesmen and women. What's more, if you'd like a quick and easy quote, fill in our online form now. We bet you can complete it in less than 60 seconds!