Trades where standard liability cover, written for accidents, doesn't fit work built around deliberate acts and professional judgement.
Each trade has its own guide and a 1-minute quiz that matches you to the insurers who fit how you actually work.
Door Supervisors
SIA-licensed door work where injury from deliberate acts – restraint, removal, detention – is the defining risk most standard policies exclude.
Security Guards
Work that can involve physical intervention and confrontation – standard liability policies are written for accidents, not deliberate acts, so guarding needs its own wording.
Alarm Installers
When your work fails, the consequence is a burglary or a fire – a "failure to perform" exposure that a generic electrician's policy doesn't cover.
CCTV Installers
Physical trade risk plus two exposures unique to surveillance: systems that fail to record, and cameras capturing personal data under UK GDPR.
Locksmiths
A trust trade working on the security of homes and businesses, often in emergencies – liability, serious tools cover, and indemnity for security advice.
Private Investigators
An indemnity-led profession of information rather than premises – defamation, breach of confidentiality, lost evidence and data-protection failures, not slips and trips.
Security trades are usually failed by ordinary business insurance policies. Standard liability policies are written for accidents – but security work generates claims from deliberate acts (like restraint, removal, or detention), from systems that fail to do their one job, and from professional judgements about other people's lives and property. Every trade below needs cover specifically written for the work (not adapted from a generic policy). Find your trade, take the two-minute quiz to see which insurance companies best fit your work, or dig deeper with the dedicated guide.
A mix of Public Liability Insurance (PL), Professional Indemnity Insurance (PI), and Employers’ Liability Insurance (EL) – sometimes Cyber Insurance (Cyber) as well.
| Trade | Core covers | Typical cost | The wording that matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Door supervisor | PL with deliberate-acts + wrongful-arrest cover, EL | ~£75–£250/yr (individual); firms from £1,500 + IPT minimum | Injury from intentional restraint must be covered – most PL isn't |
| Security guard | As above + inefficacy/PI for firms | ~£100–£250/yr (individual); firms from £500 + IPT minimum | Same deliberate-acts test; avg claim £18,123 (Simply Business) |
| Alarm installer | PL/products, PI for failed systems, tools | £70–£200/yr | If the system fails, the loss is a burglary or fire – check PI responds |
| CCTV installer | PL/products, PI, tools, data-claims clarity | £60–£200/yr | Failed-recording claims + UK GDPR (footage is personal data) |
| Locksmith | PL, serious tools cover, PI for advice | £100–£250/yr | Overnight-vehicle tool conditions you can actually comply with |
| Private investigator | PI-led (£500k+ ABI standard), cyber, PL | £150–£400/yr | Defamation, confidentiality and data claims – not slips and trips |
These are the reasons to buy insurance from security-literate providers:
Deliberate acts. Door and guarding work involves intentional physical contact – and standard public liability responds to accidents. A proper security wording extends to injury arising from deliberate acts in the course of duties, plus wrongful arrest and detention allegations. If a policy is silent on both, it isn't a security policy. (Applies to: door supervisors, security guards.)
Failure to perform. When an alarm, CCTV system or lock fails, the client's loss is a break-in – a claim about your professional work, not an accident on site. That sits under professional indemnity or explicit efficacy wording, which generic tradesman policies commonly exclude. (Applies to: alarm and CCTV installers, locksmiths who advise; guarding firms need the related inefficacy/contractual liability cover.)
Information risk. CCTV footage and investigation case files are personal data under UK GDPR; investigators additionally face defamation and breach-of-confidentiality claims. Indemnity and cyber cover – not premises cover – carry the load. (Applies to: CCTV installers, private investigators.)
The subcontractor trap. Labour-only subcontractors – working under your direction, your control – count as employees, making employers' liability legally required (fines up to £2,500 per day per person). Genuinely independent firms with their own verified cover don't. Every security business using flexible labour needs this distinction right.
SIA licensing applies to front-line roles: door supervision and security guarding require the relevant SIA licence (currently £136 for three years), which insurers and clients verify on the public register. Installers and locksmiths aren't SIA-licensed but have their own quality marks (NSI/SSAIB accreditation for installers; Master Locksmiths Association vetting). Private investigation remains formally unregulated – years of discussed licensing notwithstanding – which makes the Association of British Investigators' membership standard (including its £500,000 minimum professional indemnity requirement) the de facto credential. In every case, insurance is separate from licensing: the licence lets you work; the insurance lets you survive a claim.
Contract-standard limits. Councils, large venues and corporate clients typically demand £5m public liability and £10m employers' liability. If you ever want that work, buy those limits – retrofitting mid-contract is the expensive route.
Two markets under each name. Door supervision and guarding split sharply between self-employed individuals (fast online cover from ~£12/month via Simply Business) and companies (a surveyed, minimum-premium broker market – Citynet's and Camberford's schemes – where door work rates three times harder than static guarding). The guides cover both ends; the quizzes route you to the right one.
Only employers' liability (with any staff, including labour-only subs). But SIA-licensed work without public liability is commercially near-impossible – venues, agencies and clients demand proof.
No. The licence and the insurance are entirely separate; you need both.
Usually yes, but declare both: door supervision rates harder than static guarding, and undeclared door work is a claim-denial risk. Start with the door supervisor guide – its wording requirements are the stricter set.
One installer policy typically covers both (Markel's product is built exactly this way) – declare fire-alarm work specifically, as it rates harder.
Adjacent trades we haven't covered in dedicated guides yet – the specialist brokers in the security guard guide (Citynet, Camberford via your broker) handle both.
Guides in this cluster: Door supervisors · Security guards · Alarm installers · CCTV installers · Locksmiths · Private investigators
Related clusters: Health & fitness insurance · Construction & building trades (coming soon – alarm and CCTV installers often hold dual trades)