Learn what insurance means to other business owners in 60 seconds.
- Employers liability
- Product liability
- Public liability
- Professional indemnity
- Personal accident
- Aesthetics Insurance
- Barbers Insurance
- Beauty and Beauticians Insurance
- Beauty Therapist Insurance
- Hairdressers Insurance
- Lash Tech Insurance
- Make Up Artist Insurance
- Mobile Beauty Insurance
- Mobile Hairdresser Insurance
- Nail Technician Insurance
- Salon Insurance
- Tanning Salon Insurance
- Tattooist Insurance
- Amusement Arcade Insurance
- Art Gallery Insurance
- Bakery Insurance
- Bicycle Mechanic Insurance
- Bike Shop Insurance
- Bingo Hall Insurance
- Bureau de change Insurance
- Business Retail Insurance
- Butchers Insurance
- Cash and Carry Insurance
- Charity Shop Insurance
- Clothes Shop Insurance
- Convenience Store Insurance
- Craft Business Insurance
- Craft Fair Insurance
- Deli and Sandwich
- Shop Insurance
- Dry Cleaners and Launderette Insurance
- Ecommerce Business Insurance
- Fishmongers Insurance
- Florists Insurance
- Furniture Shop Insurance
- Garden Centre Insurance
- Grocery Shop Insurance
- Home Baker Insurance
- Ice Cream Parlour and Dessert Shop Insurance
- Jewellery Shop Insurance
- Locksmith Insurance
- Market Traders Insurance
- Off Licence Insurance
- Online Retail Insurance
- Opticians Insurance
- Pet Shop Insurance
- Pharmacy Shop Insurance
- Post Office Insurance
- Shop Insurance
- Supermarket Insurance
- Sweet Shop Insurance
Got a burning question or have specific needs?
An expert is waiting to help on 03308 285 554. Alternatively, get our free insurance health check – we’ll review your existing insurance to make sure you have the correct protection in place.
smei is always best. We have more than 10 hair salons and they never forget the renewal time, never renew the policy without asking, customer service always polite and solve any problems quickly. Also I can see all of my policies on their portal, no waste of paper, everything online. Thank you smei!
Rana Dincer
Who we Cover
At smei, our aim is simple. We strive to deliver the right small business insurance for the UK’s high street shops and small to medium enterprises, easily and without fuss, at a competitive price. We’ll help you understand what type of insurance you need to protect your business and work hard to deliver a small business insurance quote that’s tailored to you. We aim to give you peace of mind, so you can do what you enjoy most – run your business.
Whether you’re a sole trader, director of a limited company or a self-employed freelancer, our insurance experts are on hand to find the perfect fit for you.
We know that every business is different, so we offer flexible and tailored insurance cover to match your unique needs.
You can choose covers that will protect you if the worst should happen, including:
- Employers liability insurance – in most cases, this is a legal requirement if you employ staff. It protects you and your business if one of your employees gets ill or is injured at work. If there are legal defence costs or compensation claims, you’ll be covered.
- Public liability insurance – if your business welcomes other people on to your premises, you should have this insurance cover in place. It will protect you if someone makes a claim for an injury they sustained during their visit like a slip, trip or fall or if their possessions are damaged.
- Products liability insurance – this cover is there to protect you and your business against accidental injury to a third party caused by a product you’ve made or sold.
- Professional indemnity insurance - if someone feels you or your staff have offered the wrong advice, given a bad treatment, or delivered flawed design work, your professional indemnity insurance covers any financial loss resulting from a claim. This is slightly different to accidental damage, so it does require a separate policy.
- Building and contents cover – this could protect your business from rare events like fires, floods, storms and subsidence. It can also cover the contents such as furniture, computers, staff belongings etc.
- Business interruption cover – this will help replace lost income and wage payments in the event your business is halted due to a direct physical loss or damage, such as a disaster like a fire that causes you to temporarily close your business. This cover protects your profit along with any fixed expenses and wages during the closure. It’s worth noting that standard business interruption cover doesn’t include business closures due to a pandemic.
- The standard policies above can be supplemented by additional cover such as stock insurance, loss of money insurance, loss of licence insurance and even cyber insurance to protect against online fraud.
We’re a broker which means we shop the market for you and can offer you insurance quotes from a panel of A-rated UK insurers. Not all policies are the same ‒ so if you’re unsure about exactly what cover you need or want to understand the finer details of your existing policy, pick up the phone and give us a call. We’ll happily talk you through the detail.
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We're Here For You...
Want some free advice and expert guidance to help grow and protect your business?
- Access our free insurance health check (are you sure you’ve got the right cover?)
- Download 'how to' guides for boosting success.
- Hear from other business owners like you.
- Set renewal reminders and calculate staff turnover costs.
Your Success = Our Success
- We’ve been helping protect businesses like yours since 2002.
- Access to A rated insurance companies in the UK.
- We search the market for you.
- Genuinely affordable pricing with no hidden fees.
- Deep expertise on hand when you need it.
Want to know more about us and how we wouldn't exist without you?
Small business insurance FAQs
Business insurance is also known as commercial insurance. It’s designed to protect your business against the risks you face during your everyday practice.
We offer different types of business insurance cover to fit your needs, including: public and product liability, professional indemnity and employers liability insurance. We also offer specialist office contents and cyber security policies.
Our business insurance policies can help protect you from the unexpected.
If you own a UK company and you employ staff, by law you may need employers liability insurance, a type of business insurance. Public liability cover can also offer important protection against certain risks your business faces.
If you provide a professional service, you may be at risk of having a claim brought against you. This is what business insurance can protect you against.
We also offer other types of business insurance to help you safeguard property and equipment or help recover your IT systems.
Even if your business isn’t at fault, claims against your business can be exceedingly costly without the right policy in place.
The cost of your business insurance depends on the type of insurance and the level of cover you need.
You’ll only pay for the amount of cover you need because you choose what goes into your policy.
We’ll calculate your premium (how much you’ll pay) based on a few things, including the nature of your business and the cover levels you chose. We also take into account the level of risk your business faces and how much a claim could cost.
Make sure you answer all our questions as accurately as you can to get the most suitable cover to best protect your business.
If you're unsure about the cover you need for your business, an insurance broker is best placed to tell you what kind of cover is best for your needs. Brokers will understand your industry, the market, and the products inside out.
Most brokers will also be able to provide you with impartial advice as they’re not tied to any one insurer. This means they can shop around for you to find the best cover for your needs at a competitive price.
It’s helpful to have any previous insurance policies handy, and any renewal documentation or information you have got so far. It doesn't matter if you don't have them though, we’ll guide you through the relevant questions.
We'll need some basic details about your business and property, if you have any tools or stock to insure for example, their value would be required also.
Introducing Our Interactive High Street Tool
The digital tool allows business owners to delve into our high street to find expert advice and guidance to help protect and grow their business.
By accessing the tool, you will be able to download helpful guides, hear from other business owners like you, calculate how much staff turnover is costing you, take advantage of our free insurance health check, and use the renewal date reminder form if you'd like a quote at some point in the future.
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Quotes from well-known and specialist insurers, including:
