Charity insurance

Insurance for larger charities: building the whole programme

Reviewed by the Apex broking team · Last reviewed 2026-11-10

A larger charity's insurance programme is the coordinated set of policies protecting its property, income, people, trustees and funds across every site and service. It matters because trustees must protect charity assets and should be able to show how they decided what to insure.

Part of: Charity insurance

What a larger charity's insurance programme is

Once a charity has paid staff, several sites and a mix of services, a single package policy rarely fits. The insurance becomes a programme: a set of policies, often bought from different insurers, that between them protect the charity's buildings, income, people, trustees, money, data, vehicles and overseas work. Each policy has its own limits, exclusions and conditions, and the gaps between them matter as much as the policies themselves.

The board does not need to understand every wording. It does need to know what the programme is meant to protect, where the charity is carrying risk itself, and why. That is the question the Charity Commission expects trustees to be able to answer, and it is the question insurers, auditors and funders increasingly ask too.

This page is the hub for Apex's guides for established charities and social enterprises. If you want an outside view of what you already have, see our charity insurance programme review; for a general introduction, start with the charity insurance guide.

The rules trustees work within

The Charity Commission's guidance The essential trustee (CC3) asks trustees to manage the charity's resources responsibly and not expose its assets, beneficiaries or reputation to undue risk. Its insurance guidance, Charities and insurance (CC49), turns that into practical points:

• Compulsory cover. Charities that employ staff must hold employers' liability insurance with a minimum of £5 million from an authorised insurer. Vehicles the charity owns or operates need at least the cover required by the Road Traffic Acts.
• Everything else is a judgement. Where the law does not require cover, trustees should use a risk assessment to decide whether to insure. CC49 says that if trustees act reasonably and take advice where appropriate, an uninsured loss falls on the charity rather than on them personally.
• Advice. Trustees without the expertise should consider independent professional advice, and CC49 says it is usually best to use a broker who understands charities and can approach several insurers.
• Buildings. CC49 recommends insuring owned buildings for full reinstatement value, warns that underinsurance reduces claims proportionately, and suggests a surveyor confirms the figure regularly, perhaps every two years.

Section 189 of the Charities Act 2011 gives charity trustees a general power to buy trustee indemnity insurance from charity funds, provided they are satisfied it is in the charity's best interests and the cost is no more than reasonable. The policy must exclude criminal fines and regulatory penalties, defence costs where a trustee is convicted of an offence involving fraud, dishonesty or wilful or reckless misconduct, and liability to the charity for conduct the trustee knew (or must be assumed to have known) was not in its interests. See trustee indemnity insurance for charities and D&O for charities for how larger boards usually structure this.

Trustees of charities with income over £25,000 also sign a declaration in the annual return that no serious incident has gone unreported. Many reportable incidents (fraud, safeguarding, data loss, significant financial loss) are also insurance events, so the serious incident reporting guidance and the insurance notification process should run side by side.

Mapping exposures to cover

The table below is a starting point for a board discussion. Which policy responds always depends on the wording.

Some activities bring their own considerations. Shops (charity shop chains), housing (supported housing), commissioned services (contracted public services), a trading company (trading subsidiaries) and grant-making (trusts and foundations) all change the shape of the programme. So does a change of legal form (social enterprises and CICs) or a merger (mergers and run-off).

Structure and renewal timetable

Larger programmes tend to work better when they are run as one project rather than a series of separate renewals.

• Common renewal dates. Aligning policies to one or two dates makes it easier to present the charity once and spot overlaps. Where dates differ, keep a single schedule showing every policy, limit, excess and expiry.
• Start early. For a multi-line programme, collecting information three to four months before renewal is common practice, so there is time to answer underwriting questions and compare terms. Board or finance committee sign-off then fits the meeting cycle.
• Know the trigger. Liability and property cover are commonly written on an occurrence or loss-occurring basis; trustee indemnity, D&O, PI and cyber are usually claims-made, so circumstances must be notified while the policy is live.
• Check aggregates. Many management liability, abuse and cyber limits are the most the insurer will pay in the year, not per claim. One bad year can use the limit for everyone.
• Group structure. Make sure trading subsidiaries, linked charities and any branch structure are named insureds where they need to be.

Common gaps, with illustrative examples

These examples are illustrative, not real cases.

Illustrative example: the outdated sum insured. A charity with five centres has renewed its buildings sums insured with index-linking for eight years. After a fire, the loss adjuster finds the main building was underinsured by a third, and the claim is reduced in proportion.

Illustrative example: income that was never insured. A day service closes for nine months after flooding. Property cover pays for the repairs, but the business interruption section was set up on gross profit, which does not reflect commissioned income lost when the local authority moves clients elsewhere.

Other gaps that come up often:

• Volunteers excluded or age-limited under the liability wording.
• Abuse cover sub-limited well below the main public liability limit, or excluded from trustee indemnity.
• Crime cover that does not respond to payment diversion fraud, or that excludes losses by trustees.
• Overseas staff and activities assumed to be covered by the UK programme.
• A new service or site added mid-year without telling insurers.

What insurers usually want to see

Underwriters assessing a larger charity usually look for evidence that the board understands and manages its risks, not just a list of activities. Commonly requested:

• Latest accounts, income split by source and a description of each service.
• A schedule of sites with construction, occupancy, fire protection and up-to-date rebuild valuations.
• The risk register and how often trustees review it.
• Safeguarding, health and safety and financial control policies, with evidence they are followed.
• Five years' claims experience and any serious incidents reported to the Commission.
• Cyber controls such as multi-factor authentication, backups and patching.

A clear, honest presentation usually produces better questions and cleaner terms than a thin one.

When to review your programme

Trustees should be able to show that insurance was considered properly, not just renewed. A review is worth commissioning when:

• The charity opens, closes or buys a site, or starts a new service or client group.
• Income moves materially, or a large contract or grant begins or ends.
• The charity merges, sets up a trading company or changes legal form.
• A serious incident, claim or regulatory inquiry has happened.
• The same programme has been renewed for several years without a market comparison.

For a structured outside view of any business, see our insurance programme review, or for charities specifically the charity programme review. Apex arranges charity insurance programmes across the UK; a broker reads every enquiry.

Talk to a charity insurance broker

Sources

• Charity Commission: Charities and insurance (CC49)
• Charity Commission: The essential trustee (CC3)
• Charities Act 2011, section 189
• Charity Commission: How to report a serious incident in your charity

Frequently asked

Apex 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.