A client you have almost signed sends over a supplier form.
Most of it is banking details and an address. One line asks for your insurance details, and it is the only line on the page you cannot answer. What follows is a week of vagueness, and quite often the job goes to somebody who could answer it in an afternoon.
What actually goes wrong
Start here, because the fear and the reality are not the same thing and the fear is the less useful of the two.
Not what creators expect
Most people imagine the risk is being sued over something said in a video. That is not where the exposure sits, and a previous piece in this series explains why: the advertiser carries responsibility for the claims in commissioned content, and the disputes that arise there are handled between the brand and the regulator.
The things that actually cost creators money are duller and more physical. You damage something in a client's premises. Somebody trips over your light stand. Your camera is stolen from a car. You take a deposit and then cannot deliver because of illness, and the client wants it back.
The three that come up
Damage to somebody else's property is the first, and it is the most common by a distance. Filming in a shop, a kitchen or an office puts you and your equipment in a space full of things you did not pay for.
Injury to a person at your shoot is the second, and it does not require anything dramatic. A cable across a doorway in somebody's premises is enough.
Your own equipment is the third, and it is the one creators insure first and probably should insure last, because losing a camera is expensive but bounded, while the first two are not.
| The situation | Whose problem it becomes | What to ask a broker about |
|---|---|---|
| You knock over something in their shop | Yours, immediately | Public liability cover |
| A visitor trips on your cable | Yours, and it can be large | Public liability cover |
| The client says the work was negligent | Yours, and it is rare | Professional indemnity |
| Your kit is stolen on the way home | Yours, and it is bounded | Equipment or contents cover |
| A creator you subcontracted causes it | Ask before it happens | Whether your cover extends to them |
The last row is the one to raise early if you ever pass work to somebody else, because it is the question nobody thinks about until the moment it matters.
Why UK clients ask
This is the part worth understanding, because it changes the tone of the request entirely.
It is procurement, not suspicion
When a company asks for your certificate, it is almost never a judgement about you. It is a box on a supplier onboarding process that exists because their own insurers and their own contracts require them to check.
That matters for two reasons. First, being asked is a sign you are dealing with a serious buyer rather than a red flag about the job. Second, the request usually cannot be waived by the person you are talking to, however friendly they are, because they did not write the rule and cannot make an exception to it.
So the useful response is not to negotiate. It is to have the document, or to be able to say when you will.
What to do this week
Talk to a broker rather than reading policy pages. Fifteen minutes on the phone with somebody who insures freelancers will tell you what is standard for the work you actually do, which is not the same as what is standard for a film production.
Say plainly what you do: filming in your own home most of the time, occasionally at a client's premises, sometimes with their product in your hands. That description determines everything, and getting it right matters more than the brand of policy.
Then keep the certificate somewhere you can find it in a minute. The whole advantage of having cover is being able to answer the form the same day, and a document you cannot locate is worth almost nothing at the moment it is needed.
None of this is a legal opinion, and the requirements that apply to you depend on your situation. A broker and, if the sums are meaningful, an accountant or a solicitor are the right people for the specifics.
Keep reading
- You Did Not Sell Them Views
- Two Clauses Decide What You Earn. The Rest Is Furniture
- Two Creators, One Tuesday, Two Different Businesses
- What Goes in the Box
- The complete UGC guide for the UK
Publish your creator profile →
Frequently asked questions
Do I legally have to have it?
That depends on what you do and it is a question for a professional rather than an article. What is certain is that some clients will require it contractually whether or not the law does.
Is it worth it if I only film at home?
The exposure is smaller and it does not disappear, because the product in your hands belongs to somebody else and the certificate is still asked for. Ask a broker what the cheapest sensible level looks like for home based work.
Can I add it to the client's cover instead?
Occasionally a brand will extend theirs for a shoot on their premises, and it is worth asking. Do not assume it, and get the answer in writing before the day rather than after an accident.
What if I am asked and do not have it?
Say so plainly and say when you will. Creators lose jobs by being vague far more often than by being uninsured, and a clear date is usually accepted.