Does your insurance cover working from home?
If you work remotely and are wondering whether you’re covered by home insurance, this guide outlines what’s protected by contents cover and when you may need specialist cover.
Hybrid and remote working in Ireland
Remote working, or ‘working from home,’ is when you work from another location instead of going to your employer’s workplace. Hybrid working is where you split your working week between home and workplace.
Since 7 March 2024, all employees have a new legal right to request remote working. You can now request a remote working arrangement from your first day, but you must do six months of continuous service before it starts.
You may work from home if you:
- are an employee
- are a contractor or freelancer
- have a home-based business
Does home insurance cover work equipment?
Working from home doesn’t usually impact your home insurance, and most policies protect home PCs, laptops and printers - even if you use them to work remotely.
However, home insurance is designed for residential and not business use, so you could be left short in certain circumstances.
Whether you are covered or not depends on the following:
- Type of equipment
- Value of equipment
- Location of equipment
- Employee or self-employed
Types of home office equipment
This is defined by each insurer, so you’ll need to check the contents section of your policy. It usually includes:
What is excluded?
Any property other than home office equipment that’s held or used at your home for business, trade or professional purposes won’t be covered against loss or damage.
For example:
If you need cover for business items like these, you should contact your insurer, who will assess the risk and advise you on your options.
How much is equipment covered for?
You can check your contents insurance policy document or call your insurer to find out the value of the cover that’s included.
Most policies provide up to €4,000 cover for home office equipment. There will also be a single item value limit that applies.
If you need to increase the cover amount, you could consider:
- A premium policy that has a higher cover level, but you’ll usually have to pay extra
- A separate gadget insurance policy that specifically covers high value items
It’s a good opportunity to check that you’ve set the replacement value for all the contents in your home at the correct level. Our guide to contents insurance explains more.
Is equipment covered away from home?
If you only have standard cover, you’re probably just covered to use office equipment at home. Some insurers extend ‘All Risks cover’ to home office equipment outside the home, but not all.
All Risks is an add-on that protects your personal possessions from loss and damage both inside and outside your home.
What about gadget insurance?
If your devices are portable, expensive to replace and relatively new, gadget insurance could be a better option than contents insurance.
Portable gadgets are covered in and away from home with gadget insurance, but you’d have to add All Risks cover (if available) to your contents insurance to get this protection.
You may also be able to get a lower excess on a gadget insurance policy, and your device could be replaced quicker if you had to claim.
Who’s responsible for equipment cover?
Employee
If you use your own home office equipment, most contents insurers cover it as standard, but not all, so double-check.
If your employer has asked you to work from home and provides your electronic equipment, it’s their responsibility to insure it.
It’s worth checking their company policy for restrictions on how it can be used or stored at home and whether you can also use it outside your home so you don’t invalidate any potential claims.
Self employed
If you’re working as a contractor or freelancer and have equipment like PCs, laptops, and printers at home, you are solely responsible for insuring against loss or damage.
Running a business from home
If you run a business from home, you are responsible for insuring your equipment. Your contents insurance policy will cover most office equipment, but check for exclusions.
You don’t legally need to tell your insurer that you’re running a business from your home, but it’s worth letting them know in case damage or loss occurs as a result of your business.
Depending on the type of business you run, you may need to consider other insurances such as public liability and professional identity cover.
Common exclusions
Since most remote working involves the use of a laptop or computer, it’s worth being aware of these common policy claim exclusions:
Public liability cover
Home insurance usually covers claims from visitors to your home who suffer an injury or damage to their property. So, you’re personally liable as the homeowner, but your insurance would cover any costs awarded.
However, if people come to your home to buy your service or product, for instance, to have a treatment or buy goods - you should consider public liability cover.
Public liability cover protects you from claims against your business from a third party, excluding employees.
Are you covered?
Home insurance doesn’t cover personal or public liability resulting from your employment, business, profession or trade.
For example, if your job involves customers visiting your home, you won’t be covered if they have an accident that results in:
- Injury
- Illness or death,
- If their property gets lost or damaged.
Another example is if you store confidential client information on your laptop and it gets stolen, causing their details to be compromised.
In each scenario, if a claim was brought against you or your business, you’d be responsible for legal costs and settlement costs if they won the case. This could amount to thousands of euros and even result in bankruptcy.
So, does home insurance offer enough cover?
It depends on all of the factors outlined in this guide. Here’s a quick summary:
- What equipment do you use? Check if it’s covered by the definition of home office equipment in your policy wording document. If not, gadget insurance or business insurance could be a better option. Discuss with your insurer or a broker, then shop around for the best policy.
- How much is your equipment worth? If it costs more to replace items than the cover limit on your policy, consider upgrading your policy or getting gadget insurance.
- Do you need to work away from home? If you don’t have All Risks cover, you could add this, or look at getting gadget insurance which covers devices away from home.
- Do you need to meet with clients or customers? If they need to visit your home, you’re not protected against third party claims. Specialist business insurance could offer the protection you need.
What do you need to next?
If in any doubt, contact your insurer about your work at home. They will advise on your options.
To protect yourself, share details about the work you do at home with your insurer; answer their questions honestly, and follow their advice. Don’t risk a claim being invalidated or made against you.
Any claim you make could be invalid if you have withheld information about the use of your home or contents.
Working from home FAQs
Is gadget insurance more expensive than contents insurance?
Gadget insurance is a separate policy for portable devices, so you’ll still need contents insurance for your other household belongings. You’ll probably pay less per month for gadget insurance, but it’s only covering your specified items.
If you just have contents insurance to cover your home office equipment, chances are you’ll need a premium policy and All Risks cover which cost more, and still may not offer as much protection as gadget insurance.
To work out whether to get gadget insurance as well as contents insurance, you’ll need to weigh up:
- What protection you need for your devices
- What excess you can afford
- Where you’ll be using your home office equipment
- Whether you could afford to replace items yourself if they were lost or damaged
Take a look at our contents insurance and gadget insurance guides to find out more.
What excess will I have to pay?
You can usually choose whether to set your voluntary excess at the minimum level or higher.
The minimum and maximum excess levels depend on things like the insurer, the type of insurance and the amount of cover you need. The excess is likely to be lower on a gadget insurance policy than home insurance.
Having a higher excess will make your policy cheaper but it’ll be expensive if you have to claim. A low excess will make your policy more expensive but it will reduce what you pay in a claim.
