What is business interruption insurance?
Business interruption is a type of insurance that helps cover your financial losses if a covered event prevents you from doing your work and leaves you unable to carry out your business.
It can help to cover:
- Lost income from a period of not trading
- Increased costs spent in order to continue your business or minimise your loss of income
The idea is to put your business back in the same position that you would have been in had the interruption not occurred so, if certain costs and expenses reduce after a loss, this will be reflected in the settlement of any claim.
This cover is only available if you also buy contents insurance from us.
How does business interruption insurance work?
Business interruption insurance can support you with a range of common risks.
However, you can’t claim for all interruptions you encounter. To be insured, the cause of the interruption must be stated as being covered in our policy wording.
Primarily, these interruptions relate to insured damage to your property or your insured premises being inaccessible to you.
Insured damage
Get cover for interruptions to your business caused by damage to your own property or property belonging to your homeworkers, suppliers or customers based in the UK up to the limit specified in your schedule.
Say flooding after a storm causes significant damage to your premises and key pieces of equipment. With business interruption insurance, you may get help with lost revenue while they’re being repaired.
Public utility supply failure
Get cover for interruptions to your business caused by a failure in the supply of water, gas, electricity, telecommunications or the internet, for example due to damaged cables or pipes.
You might arrive at your business premises to find the internet is offline. Without it, you lose money by the hour. While your internet supplier works to repair the damage to the connection, this insurance could step in.
We also cover other specified types of interruption, such as restrictions in access to your business premises imposed by the police or another public authority following a violent crime, defects in the sanitary fixtures and fittings or an outbreak of food poisoning. For full details see the ‘what is covered’ section below.
Does my business need business interruption insurance?
To decide if business interruption insurance could be helpful for you, consider how unexpected events could impact your business finances.
Property and operations
Would you face a significant financial shortfall if your property was damaged? What about damage to your homeworkers’, suppliers’, or customers’ property?
If the answer is yes, this insurance may be reassuring.
Access to premises
Would you face a significant shortfall in income if you were unable to access your business premises? This could be due to:
- Public authority restrictions preventing you from entering them
- Damage to property within a one-mile radius of them, for example, a significant flood or fire
If that’s a yes, this insurance may be a good option.
Overall, if your ability to run your business comes down to you accessing your business premises, or using the property inside it, this insurance could be helpful.
How much business interruption insurance do I need?
When working out how much business interruption cover to buy, you should look at your income and request an amount insured which is reflective of your estimated annual income for the next 12 months.
If you’ve taken out less cover and submit a claim, we might consider this to be under insurance. As a result, we may pay less for your claim, apply revised terms to your policy or even treat the policy as if it never existed (if we would not have provided cover had we been aware of the true position).
What does business interruption insurance cover?
Business interruption insurance covers a customer’s financial losses due to an interruption to their business activities. The cause of the interruption must be specified in the policy wording.
These financial losses are:
- Lost income from a period of not trading
- Increased costs spent in order to continue your business or minimise your loss of income
Lost after:
- Damage to your property (insured by us or by another insurer*)
- Damage to the property of your homeworkers, suppliers or customers
- Total failure in the supply of water, gas, electricity, telecommunications or internet services for more than 24 consecutive hours due to damage to the cables or the service provider’s premises in the UK
* where covered by another insurer, the damage must occur at an insured premises
We can also cover you if you’re not able to access your business premises due to:
- Property damage within a one-mile radius of the premises, e.g. a flood
- Restrictions imposed by a statutory authority as a result of:
- a murder, rape or suicide at the premises
- an occurrence at the premises of a disease which is specified in the wording
- an occurrence at the premises of food poisoning
- a defect in sanitary fixtures and fittings at the premises
- a bomb threat
If you work in leisure, adult education or retail, we can also include cover for:
- Interruptions caused by the accidental failure of a fire alarm system, safety curtain or emergency lighting system for more than 24 consecutive hours
- Costs of appeal if your premises licence is suspended for reasons outside of your control
What does business interruption insurance not cover?
With Hiscox, business interruption insurance does not cover:
- Losses from property damage to which an exclusion in the relevant property section applies
- Claims relating to war, terrorism, civil commotion, confiscation or nuclear risks
- Interruptions due to the outbreak of any disease, other than those specified in the wording (note that Covid is not a specified disease and therefore excluded)
- Cyber-attacks, hackers or digital technology errors
- Fraud, dishonesty or any other deliberate or reckless act by you
We will also not make any payment if your business has been discontinued or wound up prior to the interruption.
Please refer to the policy documents for the full details of inclusions and exclusions of this cover. Policy documents are available when purchasing online. You can also contact our customer services team for more information.
Get a quote for business interruptions insurance
We understand that the risks to your business are unique. If you want a quote for business interruptions insurance, please talk to one of our UK-based insurance specialists.
You can contact us on:
0808 2736 570
Mon-Fri 9 am-5 pm.
Business interruption insurance FAQs
What’s an indemnity period for business interruption?
An indemnity period is a term used in insurance. It is the maximum time for which an insurer will pay for the customer’s financial losses following an interruption to their business.
With business interruption insurance at Hiscox, the indemnity period starts on the date the interruption began and continues until one of the below scenarios:
- the damage which caused the interruption is repaired or the relevant items are replaced
- the insured premises become accessible to you and your employees
- the relevant restrictions are lifted
- the relevant supply is reinstated
A typical indemnity period is 12 months. But whatever the agreed indemnity period, Hiscox won’t pay for longer than that period or pay more than any amount insured stated on your schedule.
What’s under insurance with business interruption?
Under insurance is an insurance term. It describes when the amount of cover a customer has purchased is not reflective of the customer’s actual value at risk.
With business interruption insurance, we require you to set your amount insured in line with your estimated income for the next 12 months. At Hiscox, we would say you were under-insured if the amount insured you purchased was less than 85% of your actual income during the period of 12 months immediately preceding the date of the first interruption.
Can I take out business interruption insurance on its own?
No, you cannot take out business interruption insurance as a stand-alone cover with Hiscox. It is only sold alongside our business contents insurance. So, to buy this insurance from Hiscox, you also need to add business contents cover to your policy.
How much does business interruption insurance cost?
The cost of business interruption insurance is determined by:
- The nature and size of your business
- The level of risk your business presents
- Any previous claims you might have made.
Every quote is bespoke, so we can’t provide an accurate cost here. But a quote from Hiscox gives you access to policies starting at £8.40* per month.
*Figures based on an average of all business insurance policies sold to at least 10% of our customer base between February 2024 and February 2025
How can I pay for business interruption insurance with Hiscox?
You can pay for your insurance with Hiscox via:
- Debit card
- Monthly direct debit
- Annual direct debit.
Simply choose the payment option that best suits you. You can cancel at any time with no admin fees.
What diseases does Hiscox business interruption insurance cover?
Hiscox business interruption insurance covers interruptions to your business caused by specified diseases only. It’s there to step in if your or your employees’ ability to access the premises is restricted. The specified diseases are:
- Acute encephalitis
- Anthrax
- Cholera
- Dysentery
- Legionellosis
- Leptospirosis
- Paratyphoid fever
- Rabies
- Tetanus.
See your policy wording to check how this applies to you.
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