Uk Insurance for a clay artist. Clearing up some of the confusion

I know that a lot of people work without any insurance, feeling like they are too small to need it.

Whenever I break any rules in life, I always get caught  (I bunked on day of school in my whole life and got caught out and have a long list like this). I also think that it is important to protect your customers.

Public liability insurance 

Most craft sellers know that we need public liability insurance, if we sell at fairs or in shops.

This insurance covers any member of the public against injury in any of your work spaces. It doesn't cover you or your staff.

Product liability insurance 

This one is less known about, but just as important.  If someone hurts themselves on something that you made  (like a kid swallowing a bit that broke off a model,  or cut themselves on a sharp edge ect) your public liability insurance will not cover this.

Personal / staff insurance 

This will cover you / your staff if you get too ill to work or injured.

I don't have any staff, so I haven't really looked into this. I think that you have to have this if you have staff, but personal cover is not mandatory.

I have chosen not to until I get my business to the stage where it is financially stable enough to come off benefits.

Do remember, if you choose to not cover yourself,  to put some money aside for sick pay for yourself. You will need it at some point and the lack of this has ended many businesses. Finding that you can no longer afford to pay your bills, is a living hell.

Stock and tool cover 

This is what it sounds like and another one that is not mandatory,  but you are a fool to not have it.

You are counting all the items you have made ready to be sold, all the materials you keep to make things  (clay, crystals, armatures etc), all the equipment used to desplay at fairs, the tubs and shelves ect that you use to store everything, all the packaging for postal and any stamps for postage, every tool you have for your work. Literally everything you use for work.

Keep a list of everything you have,  what it cost with pictures and receipts off of your work premises.  Give them to a friend or relative or store them digitally somewhere else. If your workplace is destroyed, you don't want that paperwork to go too as you are going to need it. Make sure it's up to date.

Premises insurance 

This one depends on how you work. I work from home and don't have a actual shop  (I sell on the Internet or at the few fairs that I am well enough to get to). I also store my stock around my home  (instead of at a warehouse). So, I don't think this is applicable for me at the moment.

If you do have a studio that you work in or a shop where you sell your work or somewhere you keep your stock,  then you really want to get this.

When your things are somewhere unusual 

You may have some of your work at a gallery or exhibition at all sorts of places. You could have an arrangement with a shop to rent you a shelf, or start to store some tools and materials at a place where you teach. Anything that is different from what you have told your insurance company.......

At the stage of negotiations and before you agree,  make sure you ask if they are covering your bits with their insurance and what they will not cover.  I ask for this in writing.

I have found that almost no one agrees to take any responsibility for these situations. You must then get in touch with your insurance company before you agree the deal. They may say that this is allowed under your current cover or say that it will cost extra. You can then bring this information into the negotiations.

If you don't inform your insurance upfront, you will not be covered. This is why I get a email from them stating coverage.

Tell your insurance everything 

All the job roles you perform, your method of sales and the country's you are available to buy in, what you expect to earn, just everything. Spend some time before getting in touch with them, to write down everything you think could possibly effect your policy. No matter how unlikely.

If anything changes throughout the year  (you sell more than you expect or do anything new) get in touch with them.

Make sure you have their phone number and email address saved.

Some stings 

There are several things I have come across, that made my eyebrows go up for different reasons. Here are the ones that I can think of, but please let me know ones that I have missed and I will add them.

• Selling to America. UK insurance companies hate it and would rather you don't. It has a massive premium on it, that they divide into percentage of total sales.  I am in the bracket of no more than 25%. If I think I am getting close,  I have to get in touch to pay to go into the higher bracket. America has the reputation for a suing culture.  

    They seem to have no problem with you       selling to the rest of the world,  no matter     how bad their postal service or if they are     at war etc.

• If you are found to be knowingly negligent, then you are on your own. 

• They don't cover copy write disputes. 

• They all have various excess you have to pay on a came.

• They seem to charge you more in your first year, because all you have is a prediction of earnings.

• If you call the mane companies that find you a quote twice and make sure that they don't use the same company as the fist serch, you can get a bidding war going on for your business. Really is woth the extra effort!

     You tell each company the same            

     information and inform them of the 

    other ones quote. I guarantee that they 

    will come back with a better offer. Mine 

    started at  £660 for the year and I am now     at a  £220 for the same cover.  I am about     to inform them that they have just been         undercut by the first again, so I will let           you know who wins me.

Be nice to your brokers 

These people are nice guys doing a complicated job  (even when you are not making them work far harder with the bidding war). Remember to be nice to them both. 

I have a rule that if I get a good service from someone, then I email their boss to say so. They are all going to have a end of year appraisal and their boss will have all the complaints lodged that year. We are all good at complaints  (as we should be if something was wrong), but we do not leave positive feedback. It is actually just as important.

Where I went for my insurance 

The first company that I went to, to get the 2 different insurance brokers was;

BIBA Commercial (British Insurance Brokers’ Association)

https://www.biba.org.uk/find-insurance

They put me in touch with;

1) J.M. Glendinning; 

https://www.jmginsurance.co.uk/business-insurance

2) Towergate Insurance Brokers;

https://www.towergateinsurance.co.businessuk/-insurance

Copywrite. Why I can't make some things even if I really want to

The definition of copyright;

"the exclusive and assignable legal right, given to the originator for a fixed number of years, to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material."

This is in the laws of basically every country.  If you discover that someone copying your work,  you have the right to legally force them to stop and you may sue them.

It will go to court and if a judge finds that it is close enough to breach the copyright,  then they will issue you a CCJ.

This means that you get it on your credit record and that becomes absolutely pants.  You will have to pay a large fine  (anywhere from thousands to millions), your court costs and the court costs of the people suing you.

Any insurance that you have,  will not cover you for this because you broke the law.  So,  it can ruin lives.

Without naming any names,  there are a lot of companies that have whole departments where looking for people who have infringed their copywrite. They have gone after fan art, very small businesses and even people who reviewed their products.

If you are making any money from it in any way,  you need the written consent of the owner or they can sue.  No exceptions.

Most companies will want payment for this consent,  if they decide to entertain the idea.  They can say no, with no reasons necessary.

I have terrible luck.  I bunked school once and was caught by a member of staff who only came in to the school once a year to do dyslexia assessments. I have a hundred similar stories of me trying to do something naughty and getting caught.  I  never get away with it.  NEVER!

I assure you all that I would truly love to make "Game of thrones" pieces,  or Disney,  Nintendo,  Nicalodian,  Saga,  Waner brothers etc. I just can't afford to. 

Yes, I know that a lot of other people do this and you can find tones of non official merchandise and they have sold for years with no problems.  I think they must have got my portion of luck.

On the positive side,  this allows me to focus on developing my own style. My art can come from my creativity and imagination.  When you copy,  you don't grow. 

Over the last year,  you can see my progress in my work.  I  have  developed so much as a sculptor and my biggest hope for my life is to be able to keep my business going, so that I can Continue this journey.