What is insurance verification?

Insurance verification is when a third party – usually a customer or client – requests proof of your insurance before entering a contract with you. It gives your customers and clients peace of mind that if something goes wrong during the time they’re working with you, you’re both protected.

If you prefer, many insurance companies will also fill out what is known as an ‘insurance questionnaire’ at your request. This is most often requested by trades professions and will outline the main things your policy covers you for, the level of cover and any limitations or exclusions.

Public liability insurance is the most common cover that you’ll be asked to provide proof of.

Please note: larger clients such as a local authority (i.e., a council), a bigger business, or institutions like schools might ask for this proof before they agree to a contract.

How to get proof of your public liability insurance

Step 1

A third-party has asked you for proof of your public liability insurance. This may be a client, a professional body, a local council etc.

The first thing you should do is confirm with them if public liability is the only cover they need to see proof of.

Step 2

Once you know what you’re being asked to provide you’ll need to gather this information and any relevant documents from your insurance company.

How you obtain this information will vary depending on who your insurance provider is. In most cases, you can get your documents by contacting your insurer directly and asking them to send your insurance certificate either via email or post.

You may also want to consider sending your insurance provider an insurance questionnaire to fill out on your behalf.

AXA customers can cut out the middleman and download their proof of cover straight from their online account.

Simply log in to your AXA account and under the ‘Policy Documents’ tab, select the blue ‘view’ button next to ‘Public liability insurance evidence of cover’. 

From here, you can download or print your certificate.

Step 3 (Optional)

If you have any staff who are only in your employ temporarily, these employees are automatically covered for up to 50 man days. This could cover, for example, 1 employee for 50 days; 5 employees for 10 day, or 50 employees for 1 day.

What is a public liability insurance certificate?

A certificate of public liability insurance is simply a legal document issued by your insurer that contains the details of your policy and proves that you have public liability insurance.

Your public liability insurance certificate will typically include:

1. Policy number
2. Name of policyholder
3. Insured's profession/occupation
4. Date policy starts
5. Date policy ends
6. Limit of indemnity
7. The signature of your insurer

Yes, your certificate of PLI also outlines your products liability cover. It states that you are covered for the goods, products and/or materials you've supplied.

Do you have to display public liability insurance certificate?

Since public liability insurance isn’t a legal requirement, you don’t have to display your proof of cover if you don’t want to.

Some businesses choose to display their certificate as a means of building trust with their customers that if something happens, they’re covered. However, whether you do this is entirely personal preference as a business owner.