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What Legal Expenses covers

Sooner or later a business hits a dispute, an employee claim, a tax enquiry or an unpaid invoice. Legal Expenses funds the legal costs of taking it on, from employment claims to unpaid invoices, plus a 24/7 helpline to head most problems off before they ever reach a courtroom.

Employment disputes

Defence costs for tribunal claims, including compensation awards.

Tax & VAT

Investigations and disputes with HMRC.

Contract & debt

Contract disputes and recovering money you're owed.

Criminal & regulatory

Defence of allegations, compliance matters and licence appeals.

Property & people

Nuisance, trespass or damage, and disputes involving your executives.

24/7 helpline

Legal and tax advice, plus crisis comms and counselling.

This is a summary of cover. See the FAQ for what's not covered.

Legal Expenses in the real world

A few everyday situations where the cover steps in.

A former employee takes you to a tribunal for unfair dismissal.

Legal Expenses funds your defence and any compensation the tribunal awards, so a contested exit does not turn into a bill you pay out of pocket.

HMRC opens an enquiry into your VAT returns.

The cost of the accountants and advisers needed to handle the investigation is covered, and the tax helpline is there from the first letter.

A client refuses to pay a completed invoice.

Contract and debt-recovery cover funds the legal action to pursue the money, turning a stand-off into a claim worth chasing.

Built for businesses like yours

If your business signs contracts, employs people or invoices clients, a dispute is a question of when, not if. Legal Expenses is the cover that funds the fight and the advice that heads it off.

Employers with staffConsultants & agenciesTradespeople & contractorsShops & retailersAnyone invoicing clientsVAT-registered businesses

What Legal Expenses gives you

Advice before it becomes a claim

A 24/7 legal and tax helpline means most problems get sorted with a phone call, long before they need a solicitor or a tribunal.

The legal bill is covered, win or lose

Defending an employment claim or an HMRC enquiry can run to tens of thousands in fees alone. We fund the legal costs so the dispute does not drain the business.

Get paid what you are owed

Contract and debt-recovery cover puts legal weight behind chasing unpaid invoices, so a client who will not pay does not simply get away with it.

Part of your package

Legal Expenses comes bundled in these packages, or build your own.

Starter

Freelancers and solo founders

Covers your liability and online risks, so an accident, a hack or a dispute can't stall your work.

Policies included in this package:

Builder

Growing teams with staff

Adds employer cover and legal protection as you take on staff or contractors.

Policies included in this package:

Scaler

Established teams with premises

Full liability, property and cyber cover for stock, equipment and high-value assets.

Policies included in this package:

The words explained

A quick guide to the insurance terms on this page.

Cover for the legal costs of pursuing or defending a dispute, rather than for the loss or damage itself.

A specific type of dispute the policy covers, for example an employment claim, a tax enquiry or a debt to recover. Each has its own conditions.

The test the insurer applies before funding a case: broadly, a better-than-even chance of winning and of recovering any award. Cases below that bar are not funded.

The solicitor, accountant or other expert appointed to act on your behalf in a covered dispute.

A sum a tribunal or court orders you to pay. For employment claims this can be covered; most other fines and penalties are not.

Cover for the legal costs of enforcing a contract or chasing money a customer owes your business.

Questions, answered

No. Public Liability pays third parties who are injured or have property damaged by your business. Legal Expenses pays your own legal costs, defending or pursuing disputes like employment claims, tax enquiries and unpaid invoices. They cover different things and most businesses want both.

For most claims the insurer appoints an adviser to act for you. You may have the right to choose your own representative once formal proceedings begin, and the policy wording sets out exactly when.

No. Cover applies to disputes that arise after the policy starts. Anything you already knew about, or that existed before cover began, is excluded.

Legal Expenses funds genuine disputes that arise once you're covered. A few things sit outside it:

Disputes you already knew about, or that existed, before the cover started.
Costs or settlements run up without the insurer's agreement, and claims with less than a 50% chance of success.
Intellectual-property disputes: patents, copyright, trade marks and designs (outside employment restrictive covenants).
Fines and penalties, and disputes between partners, shareholders or group companies.

A confidential phone line, staffed by qualified specialists, for business legal and tax questions. Legal advice is available 24 hours a day, every day; tax advice during weekday business hours. Using it does not count as making a claim.

Legal Expenses is Section 14 of the Commercial Combined policy, provided by ARAG, a specialist legal-expenses insurer. The cover and the helpline both run through them, and the full terms are set out in your policy wording.

Get covered before you need it.

One application covers Legal Expenses alongside the other modules you need, and caremate™ returns your package and price in minutes. Sort it now, so the next bad day is a claim you make, not a bill you swallow.