What insurance should your subcontractors have? A UK builder’s checklist
Updated 2026-09-14 · general information, not legal or insurance advice
What you require from a subcontractor should match the risk of the work and your own contract with the client. Here’s a practical starting checklist for UK construction — adjust the limits for higher-risk trades and always check your own contract wording.
The core covers
- Public Liability (PL) — for injury or damage to third parties or their property. Not legally compulsory, but essential and almost always required by contract. Common minimums are £5m, sometimes £10m.
- Employers’ Liability (EL) — legally required if the sub has anyone working for them; minimum £5m by law, usually £10m. See our guide on whether a sub needs their own EL.
- Commercial Motor — if they drive on or for the works, including vehicles used on site.
Where relevant
- Professional Indemnity — for any sub doing design or design-and-build (M&E contractors, specialist installers).
- Tools, plant and contract works — their own kit and work in progress; less about your risk, more about keeping the job moving.
The endorsements that actually protect you
- Indemnity to principals — extends the sub’s policy to protect you for claims arising from their work (the UK equivalent of being named as additional insured).
- Waiver of subrogation — stops the sub’s insurer coming after you to recover a claim it paid.
- Non-contribution — their policy pays first and in full, rather than demanding your insurer share the cost.
Don’t forget the dates
A certificate is only as good as its policy period. Cover has to be valid for the whole time the sub is engaged — which is why tracking expiry and chasing renewals matters as much as collecting the document in the first place.
CoverWatch lets you set this checklist once and measures every sub’s certificate against it automatically — flagging anything missing, expired, or below your required limit.