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Everything in a multi-site programme hangs off the schedule of locations: which addresses are covered, at what values, on what conditions. Errors here are common — sites acquired but never added, values not updated since fit-out, a unit sub-let and nobody told the insurer. The fix is unglamorous: reconcile the policy schedule against the actual property list at every renewal, and again whenever a site is added, closed or altered. It is exactly the kind of work a form-driven placement never does.
The single biggest difference between single-site and multi-site business interruption cover is interdependency. If your distribution centre burns down, the shops it supplies stop earning even though they are undamaged. If Site A makes the components Site B assembles, damage at A interrupts B. BI arranged site-by-site misses this completely: each location’s sum insured reflects only its own turnover, and the knock-on loss lands nowhere.
Done properly, the BI cover is arranged so a loss anywhere in the network is measured across the whole business. That changes the sums insured, and it changes the indemnity period too — recovery from losing a hub site takes far longer than recovery at any one spoke. It also sharpens the gross profit definition: the figure has to be calculated the insurer’s way, across the entities and sites that would actually feel the loss.
Watch how the limits are written. A programme with a single aggregate sum insured across all locations can look generous while leaving the largest site underinsured; a per-location basis can leave you paying for headroom the small sites will never use. Loss limits, floating cover across locations, and day-one uplifts each have a place — but the choice should be made deliberately, against a realistic worst-case at your biggest single site, not inherited from whatever last year’s renewal said.
Multi-site businesses are rarely static. New units open, leases end, sites stand empty between uses. Each event has an insurance consequence: additions need endorsing on promptly, unoccupied premises trigger conditions on security and inspections, and disposals should take their liabilities with them — or run-off needs arranging where they do not. The practical answer is a standing arrangement with your broker: one call before completion, and the programme moves with the business.
Most multi-site operations hold a mix: some premises owned, some leased. Owned buildings are insured within your own programme — and if you also let space to others, property owners’ cover comes into play. Leased premises follow the lease: the landlord may insure the building and recharge you, or the repairing covenant may push the obligation your way. Either way, tenants’ improvements, plate glass, loss of lease and your liability as occupier still need a home in your programme. A broker’s job is to read the leases and make the two halves meet without gap or double payment.
None of this can be seen from a form. Which site is the choke point, how the stock moves, what would actually happen in week one after a fire at the hub — you learn that by walking the sites and asking. For multi-site risks a broker will visit in person, UK-wide, by arrangement. Start by sending the renewal pack; we will do the reading before we arrive.
Usually not. A single programme with all locations scheduled is easier to manage, avoids gaps and overlaps between separate policies, and lets the business interruption cover respond to interdependency between sites. What matters is that the schedule is accurate and the limits work per location, not just in aggregate.
At best, an awkward conversation and a back-dated premium. At worst, no cover for a serious loss at that location. Unscheduled sites are one of the most common — and most avoidable — failures in multi-site programmes, which is why the schedule should be reconciled against the property list at every renewal and every acquisition.
Tell your broker before completion, not after. Most policies can add a location mid-term by endorsement, but conditions — unoccupancy, security, contract works — may apply from day one. Disposals need the schedule updated too: you do not want to keep paying for a site you no longer own, or retain liabilities you thought had transferred.
Only if the programme is set up for it. If one of your own sites feeds another, a fire at the feeder site interrupts the whole business — so the BI sum insured and indemnity period must be set on a group-wide basis, not site by site. Where a third party’s premises matter, suppliers’ and customers’ extensions do the same job.
Yes. For owned premises you insure the building; for leased ones, the lease dictates — sometimes the landlord insures and recharges, sometimes you must insure. Tenants’ improvements, loss of the lease itself and liability under repairing covenants all need a home in the programme either way.
Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 724952). This page is general information, not advice on a specific policy.
