More and more SMEs see themselves as “too small”.

LONDON, August 09, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) excl business insurance are on the rise, while many who have insurance coverage don’t check it when business changes, a recent survey commissioned by Allianz Commercial has found.

Among the sole proprietorships and SME decision makers who took part in the survey, the main reason for not insuring their business was believing that their business was too small (47%). The second most common reason was teleworking (42%), followed by not having clients visiting the premises (34%) and not having much to insure e.g. B. no premises or vehicles (33%).

In the UK, public liability insurance is only compulsory for companies with employees and motor insurance for companies with vehicles. However, SMEs are still struggling to recover from a loss with no insurance payout, Allianz pointed out. Even for business owners who have purchased a policy, the amount of compensation they can receive depends on the amount of insurance coverage they have purchased.

The results also showed that a large proportion of SMEs changed the way they work between April 2021 and 2022, with 19% increasing the number of products they offer. Additionally, 16% changed the nature of their product or service and another 16% returned to the office or store.

Only 41% swapped their insurance policies to better match their changing circumstances, while the majority (52%) did not. This contrasts with the lockdown trends of 2021, which saw 20% of SMBs working remotely, 17% reducing the products and services they offer and 15% downsizing. 48% changed their insurance coverage to reflect these changes, but only 41% did so this year. This includes both traditional business and specific ones agency insurance guidelines.

“Many SMBs reduced their coverage during the lockdown, but interestingly many chose not to increase it when business picked up again,” says Dean Laming, director of Brisco Business Insurance.

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