Crime and Fidelity Insurance for growing businesses
Protection for the money, stock and assets a business can lose to dishonest staff, fraudsters and fake payment requests. Compare crime cover through specialist brokers who know how insurers judge your financial controls.
- Theft and fraud by your own employees
- Fake invoices and impersonation of directors
- Investigation costs to prove the loss
Reviewed October 2026 by the MyBusinessComparison.com editorial team
What is crime and fidelity insurance?
Crime and fidelity insurance reimburses a business for money, securities and property stolen through dishonesty. Fidelity cover deals with theft and fraud by your own employees; wider crime cover adds losses caused by outsiders, such as forged cheques, hacked payment systems and criminals posing as suppliers or directors to redirect payments.
These losses are often found long after they begin, when an audit, a new manager or a supplier's query exposes a pattern. Most policies cover losses discovered while the policy is in force, and many also pay forensic accountants to establish how much was taken.
Property policies usually pay for theft only after forcible entry, and liability policies do not cover your own financial loss, so crime insurance fills a gap that many established firms carry without realising.
Crime and fidelity cover in brief
- Protects
- Money, securities, stock and other property owned by or held for the business
- Inside threats
- Theft, fraud and false accounting by employees, including collusion
- Outside threats
- Forgery, payment diversion, impersonation and computer fraud
- Trigger
- Usually losses discovered during the policy period
- Insurers check
- Payment approval, segregation of duties, audits and staff vetting
- Often added
- Theft of client property by your staff while working at client sites
What does crime and fidelity insurance cover?
Cover is written in insuring clauses, each with a limit. These are the clauses most UK crime policies include or offer.
Employee dishonesty
Money, stock and assets stolen or fraudulently diverted by employees, whether acting alone or with others, including false invoices, ghost employees and payroll fraud.
Forgery and alteration
Losses from forged or altered cheques, bills, promissory notes and similar documents drawn on or issued by the business.
Computer and funds transfer fraud
Money taken when someone outside the business breaks into your systems or banking and makes payments without your consent.
Read more about cyber insurance
Social engineering fraud
Payments made in good faith after a fraudster poses as a supplier, customer or director. Usually a separate clause with a lower limit and verification conditions.
Client property
Theft of money or property belonging to your clients by your employees while working on their premises or with access to their accounts.
Read more about cover for facilities management firms
Theft of stock and goods
Stock and goods taken through proven dishonesty, rather than shortages that only show up in a stock count.
Read more about warehouse and storage insurance
Investigation costs
Forensic accountants and investigators to establish how the loss happened and how much was taken, usually within a set limit.
Legal and recovery costs
Costs of pursuing the person responsible to recover money, and of defending legal action from a bank or third party linked to a covered loss.
Read more about commercial legal expenses insurance
Clauses some insurers add
- Counterfeit currency: losses from accepting forged banknotes in good faith, for cash-handling businesses
- Money on premises: cash and valuables stolen from the premises by outsiders, where not already covered by a property policy
- Pension scheme fidelity: theft from a company pension scheme by the people who run it
- Extortion and kidnap: demands made by threats against staff or premises, often arranged as a separate policy
Who needs crime and fidelity insurance?
Any business where people can move money, approve payments or handle valuable stock. Exposure grows with headcount, payment volumes and the number of sites.
Handle client money or property? Firms working on client premises or holding client funds face extra exposure. See cleaning and facilities cover or insurance for security firms.
- Wholesalers and distributors: high value stock, many supplier payments and busy accounts teams
- Manufacturers: purchasing fraud, scrap and stock diversion, and supplier bank detail changes
- Retailers: cash handling, refunds and stock across several branches
- Hospitality groups: tills, cash, stock and managers working with little supervision
- Recruitment agencies: large weekly payrolls where false timesheets and ghost workers can go unnoticed
- Professional and financial firms: client money, payment authority and email-based payment instructions
- Construction companies: large stage payments targeted by bank detail fraud, and materials on open sites
- Security firms: staff with keys and codes to client premises after hours
- Care and healthcare providers: residents' money and possessions handled by care staff
- Property owners and managing agents: rent and service charge accounts held for tenants
- Motor traders: vehicle stock, part exchanges and payments from buyers
How much does crime and fidelity insurance cost?
Insurers price crime cover on how easily money could leave the business without being noticed. These factors carry most weight.
Headcount and roles
The number of employees, and how many can approve payments, handle cash or change supplier details, sets the scale of the risk.
Financial controls
Dual signatories, segregation of duties, payment limits and call-back checks on new bank details are central to the price.
Audit and reconciliation
Regular external audits, monthly bank reconciliations and surprise stock checks show losses would be found early.
Sector and cash
Cash-heavy, stock-heavy and client money businesses carry more exposure than those paid only by bank transfer.
Limits and excess
The limit chosen for each clause, especially social engineering, and the excess you carry change the premium.
Previous losses
Past thefts or frauds, how they were discovered and which controls were added afterwards.
What crime and fidelity insurance does not cover
Crime policies are precise about what counts as a covered loss. These are the exclusions that matter most.
- Losses caused by an employee after you knew of earlier dishonesty by that person
- Stock shortages proved only by a stocktake or inventory calculation
- Indirect losses, such as lost profit or interest, unless an extension applies
- Social engineering payments where the required verification checks were not carried out
- Losses discovered after the policy has ended, unless a discovery period applies
- Theft by owners holding a large stake in the business, which many policies treat differently
- Trading losses and bad debts, which belong with trade credit insurance
- Theft after a break-in, which is usually handled by a commercial property policy
Crime insurance or cyber insurance?
Payment fraud can fall under either policy, so it is worth seeing how they divide the risk before you buy.
| Feature | Crime and fidelity | Cyber |
|---|---|---|
| Main purpose | Replaces money and property stolen through dishonesty | Pays for responding to and recovering from a cyber incident |
| Employee theft | Core cover | Not covered |
| Fake invoices | Social engineering clause, often with higher limits | Cyber crime section, usually with a low sub-limit |
| Data breach costs | Not covered | Core cover |
| Usually suits | Firms with payment volumes, cash, stock or client money | Firms that rely on systems or hold personal data |
How to compare crime and fidelity insurance
A crime proposal form is mostly about controls. Having this ready helps the broker present the business well.
Describe your payment process
Who can raise, approve and release payments, the limits that apply and how new supplier bank details are checked.
Outline cash and stock handling
Cash takings, banking routines, high value stock and how often stock is counted.
Gather audit details
Your auditors, recent management letters and how often accounts are reconciled.
Choose clause limits
Set limits for employee dishonesty, third party fraud and social engineering based on realistic loss scenarios.
Check the trigger
Confirm whether cover is for losses discovered in the period, any retroactive date and the discovery period after cover ends.
Speak to a broker about crime cover
Tell us how your business handles payments, cash and stock, and a broker will compare crime and fidelity cover.
Compare crime coverCrime and fidelity insurance FAQs
How much does crime and fidelity insurance cost?
It depends on headcount, sector, how cash and payments are controlled, the limits you choose and any previous losses. Strong controls such as dual authorisation of payments and regular reconciliation tend to earn better terms. A broker can show which factors move your price.
What is the difference between crime and fidelity insurance?
Fidelity insurance covers dishonesty by your own employees. Crime insurance is the wider policy, adding losses caused by outsiders such as forgery, computer fraud and impersonation scams. Many policies sold today combine both.
Does it cover fake supplier invoices and bank detail changes?
Usually, through a social engineering or deception clause. Insurers often expect a call-back check to a known number before bank details are changed, and the clause may carry a lower limit. Check the conditions carefully.
Is employee theft covered by our commercial combined policy?
Usually not. Property and theft sections normally require forcible entry, and theft by employees is a standard exclusion. Crime and fidelity insurance is designed for losses caused by the people you trust.
What if the theft started before we took out the policy?
Many policies cover losses discovered during the period even if the dishonesty began earlier, subject to any retroactive date. Moving from one insurer to another without a gap helps protect that continuity.
Do we have to prosecute the employee to claim?
Generally not, but you will need evidence of the dishonesty and the amount lost, and insurers expect you to report the matter and help recover the money. Investigation costs cover can pay for forensic accountants to build that evidence.
Can it cover theft from our clients?
Yes, many policies offer a client property clause for theft by your staff while working at client premises or with access to client funds. It is common for cleaning, security, facilities and professional firms, and is often a contract requirement.
Does crime insurance cover cyber attacks?
It covers money stolen through computer and funds transfer fraud, but not the wider costs of a cyber incident such as forensic response, data restoration or lost income. Those need cyber insurance.
How do I get a crime and fidelity insurance quote?
Send a request from this page to a broker experienced in crime cover, who will then be in contact. Have details of headcount, payment controls, audit arrangements and any past losses ready so the broker can approach insurers straight away.
Ready to compare crime and fidelity insurance?
Cover for the losses that come from inside and outside the business, arranged by a broker who knows how insurers assess controls.