Office and Professional Business Insurance for head offices and firms
Cover for professional firms, agencies and head offices with teams, office premises and clients relying on their work. Compare an office programme through specialist brokers who arrange property, liability and professional covers together.
- Office contents, IT and lost income
- Professional indemnity, cyber and management cover
- Employers' and public liability for every office
Reviewed October 2026 by the MyBusinessComparison.com editorial team
What is office and professional business insurance?
Office and professional business insurance protects firms that work mainly from offices: professional practices, agencies, consultancies and the head offices of larger groups. It covers office contents and IT, income lost after damage, employers' and public liability, and usually sits alongside professional indemnity, cyber and management liability policies.
An office package handles the premises side well, but for most professional firms the larger exposures are the advice they give, the data they hold and the decisions their directors make. Those risks sit on separate policies, so a broker typically arranges an office policy and a set of professional covers with matched renewal dates.
Leased offices are the norm. The landlord usually insures the building and recharges the cost, while the firm insures its contents, IT, fit-out improvements and liabilities. The lease decides the split, including who pays for glass and service charge items.
Office insurance at a glance
- Typical buyers
- Professional practices, agencies, consultancies and corporate head offices
- Office package
- Contents, IT, business interruption, money and liability
- Compulsory part
- Employers' liability for firms with employees
- Main professional risk
- Professional indemnity for advice, design or services
- Often added
- Cyber, management liability, crime and legal expenses
- Underwriters focus on
- Profession, fee income, contracts, data held and claims
Which policies do offices and professional firms combine?
An office programme pairs a package for the premises with policies for professional and management risks. These are the covers most firms bring together.
Office contents and IT
Desks, fit-out, computers, servers, phones and portable equipment against fire, flood, theft and accidental damage, including laptops used at home and while travelling.
Read more about business equipment insurance
Business interruption
Lost gross profit and the extra cost of working if the office is put out of use, including temporary premises and IT recovery. Book debts cover helps if billing records are destroyed.
Read more about business interruption cover
Employers' liability
Injury and illness claims from staff, from trips and falls to work-related stress, which most firms with employees must insure.
Read more about employers' liability insurance
Public liability
Injury to clients and visitors at your offices, and damage caused when staff attend client premises or events.
Read more about public liability insurance
Professional indemnity
Claims that negligent advice, design, an error or a missed deadline caused a client financial loss. Many professional bodies set minimum terms for their members.
Read more about professional indemnity insurance
Cyber
Ransomware, data breaches and system outages, with the costs of notification, forensic investigation and restoring data.
Read more about cyber insurance
Management liability
Directors' and officers' cover, employment practices claims and corporate legal liability, often in one policy for private companies.
Read more about management liability insurance
Crime and payment fraud
Employee theft and frauds where criminals pose as suppliers or directors to divert payments. Cover for impersonation fraud often needs a specific extension.
Read more about crime and fidelity insurance
Legal expenses
Employment tribunals, contract disputes, tax investigations and property disputes with landlords.
Read more about commercial legal expenses insurance
Further covers offices add
- Key person insurance: loss of a partner, director or senior fee-earner the firm depends on
- Group personal accident and travel: staff travelling to clients in the UK and abroad
- Terrorism cover: offices in city centres or in buildings where the landlord requires it
- Standalone directors' and officers' cover: larger or investor-backed companies needing higher limits
Which office-based businesses do we cover?
Professional firms are underwritten on the work they do and the clients they serve. These are the office-based businesses brokers place most often.
Medical or healthcare practice? Clinics carry treatment risks an office policy does not cover. See healthcare business insurance or all industries.
- Accountants and bookkeeping practices: client money, tax advice and minimum cover set by professional bodies
- Solicitors and legal practices: specialist professional indemnity markets alongside the office package
- Architects and surveyors: design and valuation risks with claims that can arise long after a project ends
- Engineering and design consultancies: advice on structures and systems, with installation work under engineering company insurance
- Management and IT consultancies: advice and project delivery where contracts set liability caps
- Marketing, design and creative agencies: intellectual property, defamation and client campaign risks
- Software and technology firms: technology errors, cyber and data in one programme
- Recruitment agencies: placing candidates and contractors with clients
- Financial and insurance intermediaries: advice risks placed with specialist professional indemnity insurers
- Property and estate agents: valuations, client money and lettings disputes
- Corporate head offices: the office element of a wider group programme, with operating sites on combined cover
- Charities and membership bodies: trustees, volunteers and member data alongside office cover
- Training and education providers: courses delivered at offices and client sites, with advice risks
- Call centres and shared service centres: large teams, heavy IT dependency and customer data
How much does office and professional business insurance cost?
The office package is often the smaller part of the cost. These are the factors that shape the overall programme.
Profession and services
Advice on property, finance, construction and legal matters is rated above lower risk consultancy work.
Fee income and contracts
Professional indemnity is rated on fees, the size of the largest contracts and any liability caps agreed with clients.
Data held
The volume of personal and financial data, and controls such as multi-factor authentication and offline backups, drive the cyber premium.
Office values and locations
Contents and IT values, the number of offices and whether any sit in city centres or flood-exposed areas.
Headcount and wage roll
Employers' and management liability are rated on staff numbers, wages and employment practices.
Claims and circumstances
Past claims and anything that could lead to one, which professional indemnity insurers ask about directly.
What office insurance usually leaves out
The office package is narrower than many firms assume. These are the gaps to check.
- Claims about your advice or services, which need professional indemnity insurance
- Cyber attacks and data breaches, unless a cyber policy is in place
- Payment diversion and impersonation fraud, unless crime cover includes it
- Claims against directors personally, which need directors' and officers' cover
- Equipment at employees' homes above the limits set for home working
- The building itself, where the lease makes the landlord responsible for insuring it
- Breakdown of IT equipment and servers, unless a computer breakdown section is added
Office insurance or professional indemnity?
Firms sometimes assume one covers the other. They protect against very different risks, and most professional firms need both.
| Feature | Office insurance | Professional indemnity |
|---|---|---|
| Protects | Your premises, equipment and income | Clients' financial losses caused by your work |
| Typical claim | A fire, flood or burst pipe at the office | Negligent advice, an error or a missed deadline |
| Liability covered | Injury and damage to people and property | Financial loss to clients |
| Basis of cover | Events that happen during the policy period | Claims made during the policy period, for work done after the retroactive date |
| Who asks for it | Landlords and lenders | Clients, contracts and professional bodies |
How to arrange office and professional insurance
Brokers usually arrange office and professional covers together. Preparing these points helps line them up.
List offices and values
Each office, contents and IT values, fit-out improvements and what the lease says about insurance.
Describe your services
What you do, for whom, fee income by service line and the largest contracts.
Review client contracts
Liability caps, indemnities and the insurance limits clients require you to hold.
Summarise cyber and finance controls
Backups, multi-factor authentication, payment verification and staff training.
Disclose claims and circumstances
Past claims and any complaints or issues that could become one, before the new policy starts.
Speak to an office insurance specialist
Tell us about your offices and services and a specialist broker will compare cover for you.
Compare quotesOffice and professional business insurance FAQs
How much does office insurance cost?
The office package depends on contents and IT values, locations, headcount and claims history. For most professional firms the larger costs are professional indemnity, cyber and management liability, which are rated on fees, services, data and contracts. A broker can price them together.
Does office insurance include professional indemnity?
No. An office policy covers premises, equipment, income and injury or damage claims. Claims that your advice or work caused a client financial loss need a separate professional indemnity policy, usually written by a specialist insurer.
Are laptops covered when staff work from home?
Many office policies extend contents cover to equipment at employees' homes and in transit, often with limits per item or per address. If much of your team works remotely, those limits are worth checking, along with any exclusion for theft from unattended vehicles.
Who insures the building if we lease our office?
Usually the landlord, who recharges the premium through the service charge. You insure contents, IT, any improvements you have paid for and your liabilities. The lease confirms the split, including responsibility for glass.
What is book debts cover?
It pays for money you cannot collect from clients because records of what they owe were destroyed or damaged in an insured event. It matters most to firms that bill in arrears for work already done.
Is payment diversion fraud covered?
Not always. Where criminals impersonate a supplier or director to redirect a payment, cover may sit under a crime policy, a cyber policy or neither, depending on the extensions bought. It is worth confirming exactly which policy would respond.
Do professional firms need management liability?
Many do. Directors can be pursued personally by shareholders, creditors, investigators or employees, and employment claims are common in office-based firms. Management liability bundles directors' and officers', employment practices and corporate cover.
Can a group insure its head office and operating sites together?
Yes. A head office can sit on the same combined programme as factories, depots or stores, while professional and management covers are arranged across the group. That keeps limits and renewal dates consistent.
How do I get an office insurance quote?
Make a request through this page and a broker used to professional firms will be your contact. Office addresses and values, a description of your services with fee income, headcount, key contract terms and claims history let them line up the office and professional covers together.
Ready to compare office and professional insurance?
Premises, people, data and advice covered together, arranged by a broker who works with professional firms.