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Security and cleaning contractors
Facilities management contractors usually need public and employers’ liability, professional indemnity for advisory and compliance work, and a careful read of the indemnities in each FM contract. An FM contract can make you responsible for losses your liability policy was never written to cover.
Part of: Cleaning company insurance
In short
FM firms combine services such as cleaning, security, maintenance and compliance management, so their insurance has to cover physical injury and damage, staff injury, and the financial loss that follows a missed inspection or bad advice. Employers’ liability is compulsory for most employers. Public liability responds to legal liability for injury and damage, but liability accepted under a contract beyond that is commonly excluded or limited. Under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 you cannot exclude liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, and other limits must be reasonable. Read every indemnity against your policy before you sign.
| Risk | Policy that usually responds | Points to check |
|---|---|---|
| Injury to building users or visitors | Public liability | Limit required by the contract; contractual liability wording |
| Damage to the client’s building | Public liability | Exclusions for property worked on or in your care |
| Injury to your own staff | Employers’ liability | Agency, self-employed and TUPE transferred staff declared |
| Missed statutory inspection or wrong compliance advice | Professional indemnity | Whether compliance management is a declared activity |
| Theft by staff from the client | Crime or fidelity | Third party property extension |
| Claims above your primary limit | Excess liability | Following form and contract requirements |
Larger contracts often ask for excess liability layers above the primary limit. All cover is subject to the insurer’s acceptance and the policy terms.
Most FM contracts include an indemnity, a promise to make good the client’s losses arising from your services. The difference between an indemnity and a liability matters. A liability policy covers what you are legally liable to pay. If the indemnity makes you pay for losses you did not cause, or for consequential losses with no cap, the policy may not follow it.
Clauses to look for:
Our guide to hold harmless and indemnity agreements explains how insurers read these clauses. Send the draft contract to your broker before you sign, not after a claim arrives.
Liability caps are normal in FM contracts, but the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, section 2 sets limits on them in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. A person cannot, by a contract term or notice, exclude or restrict liability for death or personal injury resulting from negligence. For other loss or damage, a term restricting liability for negligence must satisfy the requirement of reasonableness.
Where one party deals on the other’s written standard terms of business, section 3 applies a similar reasonableness test to terms excluding or limiting liability for breach of contract.
In practice, many FM contracts cap liability for property damage and financial loss at a multiple of the contract value or a fixed sum, leave personal injury uncapped, and require insurance at stated limits. Your policy limits should sit comfortably above any cap you accept.
FM firms often control other people’s work, which brings duties of its own. HSE says the Work at Height Regulations 2005 apply to employers and to anyone who controls work at height, naming facilities managers and building owners who contract others. Where cleaning or maintenance teams use hazardous products, COSHH regulation 6 requires a suitable and sufficient assessment before the work starts.
The general duties in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 cover employees and others affected by your work. A prosecution after an accident is not usually insurable as a fine, though some policies help with defence costs; see health and safety prosecutions and D&O.
Illustrative: an FM contractor arranges for a subcontractor to clear roof gutters. The subcontractor’s operative falls through a fragile rooflight. The FM firm faces questions over planning and control of the work, and its own employers’ and public liability insurers will want to see the subcontractor’s insurance and method statement.
Many FM contracts include planned maintenance scheduling, statutory compliance tracking and advice on building services. If a fire alarm service, lift inspection or water hygiene check is missed and the client suffers financial loss, public liability will not usually respond because there is no injury or property damage. That is professional indemnity territory, and the policy needs to describe your compliance work accurately.
Illustrative: an FM provider’s compliance system fails to flag an overdue lift inspection. The lift is taken out of service until it can be inspected, a tenant withholds part of its service charge, and the landlord claims the lost income and the cost of an urgent inspection from the FM provider. Nobody was hurt and nothing was damaged, so this is a financial loss claim for the PI policy, if it covers the activity.
Check whether the PI policy covers contractual liability you have accepted, and whether it excludes injury and damage claims that belong on the liability policy.
Employers’ liability is compulsory for most employers, with an HSE minimum of £5 million. Large FM contracts often involve staff transferring between providers, agency labour and specialist subcontractors. Declare all of them, check every subcontractor’s certificates at the start of each contract and on renewal, and keep the evidence. A subcontractor without its own cover can leave its injured staff and damaged property claims with you. Where you self-deliver services, the detail lives in cleaning company insurance, security company insurance and window cleaner insurance.
Apex arranges insurance for security and cleaning contractors, including FM firms delivering those services, subject to the insurer’s acceptance and the policy terms. A broker reads each enquiry and comes back with options, and there is no fee for a quote. We need your business activities, turnover, location and claims history, plus the split of services you self-deliver and subcontract, the sites and sectors you serve, headcount, and copies of the key contract clauses on indemnity, caps and insurance limits.
Usually employers’ liability, which is compulsory for most employers, public liability for injury and property damage, and professional indemnity if you manage compliance or give advice. Many FM firms add crime cover for staff dishonesty and excess liability to meet contract limits. The mix depends on what you deliver yourself and what you subcontract.
Not always. Public liability covers your legal liability for injury and damage. Liability you take on under a contract beyond that, such as indemnifying the client for its own negligence or uncapped consequential loss, is commonly excluded or limited. Ask your broker to review the indemnity against your policy before signing.
Not where the injury results from negligence. Section 2(1) of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 prevents a person excluding or restricting liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Caps on other loss caused by negligence must satisfy the requirement of reasonableness.
Yes, if they control work at height. HSE says the Regulations apply to employers and anyone who controls work at height, and gives facilities managers and building owners who contract others as examples. That means planning, supervising and using competent people for the work, even when a subcontractor carries it out.
Because many FM contracts include compliance tracking, maintenance planning and technical advice. If an inspection is missed or advice is wrong and the client loses money without any injury or damage, public liability will not usually respond. Professional indemnity is designed for that financial loss, if the work is declared.
Tell us what your business does, your turnover and any claims. A broker reads every enquiry and comes back with options. No fee for a quote. Or call 0117 325 0027.
Start a commercial enquiry Request a callbackApex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England and Wales, company number 07014570. This page is general information, not advice on your individual circumstances, and it does not guarantee that cover will be available or on what terms.
