Office Insurance Ireland: What Cover an Office Based Business Needs

What is office insurance in Ireland and what does it cover?

Office insurance in Ireland is a combined commercial policy written for businesses that work from an office rather than a shop, site or kitchen. It normally bundles cover for your contents, computers and office equipment, public liability for visitors, employers’ liability for staff, and loss of income if you cannot use the office after insured damage. Most Irish insurers sell it as a package for professional and service firms, and it can be extended with professional indemnity and cyber cover.

The point of buying it as a package rather than piece by piece is that the covers are written to sit together, so the joins between them are less likely to leave you exposed.

Who needs office insurance?

Any business whose main place of work is an office is the natural buyer. In practice that means accountants, solicitors, consultants, architects and engineers, recruiters, marketing and design agencies, financial advisers, software firms, charities and management companies, and the head office function of larger trading businesses.

It matters less whether you own the building than whether you occupy it. If you lease your office, the landlord usually insures the structure and recovers the cost through the service charge, while everything inside it and everything you do inside it remains your problem. Read your lease before you assume the building is covered, because tenant repairing obligations and glass are a common surprise.

What does an office policy typically include?

Wordings differ between insurers, so treat the table below as a map of the sections you should expect to see on a schedule rather than a promise of what any particular policy says.

Section	What it covers	Why an office needs it
Contents and office equipment	Furniture, fit out, files and equipment against fire, flood, storm, theft and escape of water	A burst pipe over a weekend can write off a floor of desks and paperwork
Computers and portable items	Laptops, phones and screens, often on an all risks basis away from the premises	Most office equipment leaves the building in a bag every evening
Public liability	Injury to visitors or damage to their property arising from your business	A client slips in your reception or a courier trips on a trailing cable
Employers’ liability	Compensation and legal costs when a staff member is injured at work	Applies to part time, temporary and hybrid staff, not only full time employees
Business interruption	Income lost and extra costs incurred while you cannot use the office	Fire in the building next door can close your office for months
Glass, signage and tenant improvements	Shopfront style glazing, external signs and the fit out you paid for	Often a lease obligation rather than the landlord’s responsibility
Money and personal accident	Cash on the premises and in transit, with assault benefits for staff	Small limits, but useful for firms that still handle any cash
Legal expenses	Employment disputes, contract disputes and tax investigations	Frequently the section clients use most often over a policy lifetime

What is usually excluded or limited?

The gaps that catch office based firms out are fairly predictable:

• Professional mistakes. Public liability does not pay when your advice, design or report causes a client a financial loss. That is what professional indemnity insurance is for, and for many office businesses it is the most important cover of all
• Digital losses. A ransomware attack or a redirected payment sits under cyber insurance rather than a standard office package
• Unoccupancy. Most policies restrict cover once premises are left empty beyond a stated period, which matters if your team has largely gone remote
• Theft without forcible entry, and theft from an unattended vehicle, which are commonly excluded or heavily limited
• Wear, tear and gradual deterioration, including long running leaks nobody noticed
• Equipment breakdown, which is often an optional extension rather than a standard inclusion

How much does office insurance cost in Ireland?

There is no single figure, and any price quoted without seeing your business would be guesswork. What we can tell you is what actually drives it. Insurers look at your trade and the advice you give, your turnover, your wageroll and staff numbers, the value of the contents and equipment you want insured, the sum you set for business interruption, the location and construction of the building, your claims history, and the limits and excesses you choose.

Two things move the number more than most owners expect. The first is professional indemnity, which is priced off the work you do rather than the room you sit in, so two firms in identical offices can pay very different premiums. The second is the business interruption indemnity period, because a longer period costs more but is often the difference between a claim that rescues the business and one that runs out halfway through the recovery.

How does hybrid and home working change what you need?

Most Irish office policies were written on the assumption that the work happens in the office. Hybrid working quietly changes several of them at once, and it is worth raising these points specifically when the policy is arranged or renewed.

• Employers’ liability follows the employee, not the building. Your duty of care under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 does not stop at the office door, so home workstations belong in your risk assessments
• Equipment taken home is only covered if the policy includes an away from premises or all risks extension for it
• Public liability at a client’s site or a co working space needs to be confirmed rather than assumed
• A half empty office can drift towards the unoccupancy condition, especially over holidays and quiet periods
• Staff working from home should check their own household policy, because business equipment and business visitors are frequently excluded from a standard home policy

How do you set the right sums insured and limits?

Underinsurance is the most common and most avoidable problem on office policies. If you insure contents for less than they would cost to replace, the average condition allows the insurer to reduce the claim payment in the same proportion, so a partial loss can be settled at a fraction of what you expected.

Three practical checks are worth doing once a year. Value contents at what it would cost to replace them new today, including the fit out you paid for, not what they are worth second hand. Set business interruption on gross profit as your accountant defines it for insurance, and choose an indemnity period long enough to find alternative premises, refit them and win back the clients you lost, which is usually longer than twelve months. Finally, check your liability limits against your contracts, because Irish policies are commonly written with public liability limits in the region of six and a half million euro and employers’ liability limits around thirteen million euro, and larger clients and public bodies sometimes require more.

The bottom line

Office insurance is the straightforward part of protecting an office based business. The contents, liability and business interruption sections are largely standard, and the real work is in the parts most owners skip: getting the sums insured right, choosing an indemnity period that reflects how long recovery actually takes, adding professional indemnity and cyber where the exposure genuinely sits, and telling your insurer how your team really works now. Get those four right and the package around them does its job.

Breeze Insurance is an Irish insurance broker and we arrange business insurance for office based firms across the country. We can search a panel of leading Irish insurers on your behalf and walk you through what your schedule actually says. Give us a call on 0818 700 300, or request a quote online and we will come back to you.

Frequently asked questions

Is office insurance a legal requirement in Ireland?

No single law obliges you to buy an office package. Employers’ liability is not compulsory by statute in Ireland in the way motor insurance is, but the duty of care an employer owes under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 makes going without it a serious risk. In practice the requirement usually arrives through your lease and your client contracts, both of which commonly specify covers and minimum limits.

Do I need office insurance if I work from home?

Very likely yes, in some form. A standard home policy is not written for a business, and it typically limits or excludes business equipment, business stock and liability to anyone visiting for work. A small office or home business policy, or a public liability and professional indemnity combination, is usually the cleaner answer. Tell your home insurer what you are doing either way, because non disclosure can affect the household policy too.

Does my landlord’s insurance cover my office contents?

No. The landlord’s policy covers the building and the landlord’s own interest, and you normally pay a share of it through the service charge. Everything you brought in, everything you fitted out, your equipment, your income and your liability to visitors remain yours to insure. Check the lease for who carries glass, plate glass and tenant improvements, as that split varies.

What is the difference between public liability and professional indemnity?

Public liability responds to physical injury and property damage, such as a visitor injured on your stairs. Professional indemnity responds to financial loss caused by your professional work, such as a report with the wrong figures in it. Office based businesses generally need both, and the professional indemnity element is usually the one with the larger potential claim behind it.

Should I insure equipment my staff take home?

Yes, and check how. Laptops, phones and screens are only covered off the premises if the policy has an away from premises or all risks extension, and there is usually a single item limit and a total limit to watch. Keep an asset register with serial numbers, because it makes both the sum insured and any future claim far easier to settle.

How often should an office policy be reviewed?

At least annually at renewal, and immediately after anything that changes the risk: taking on staff, moving premises, signing a contract with new insurance requirements, adding a service line, or shifting a large part of the team to remote working. Cover set three years ago for a business that has since doubled is the classic route into an underinsurance dispute.

Breeze Insurance Ltd. is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Registered in the Republic of Ireland with registration number 109879 and registered address at 38/39 Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin 2, D02 NX53. Director: Colin Long.