PolicyBee

PolicyBee: an online broker built around small business insurance

PolicyBee is an independent insurance broker based in Norwich that concentrates on cover for small businesses, freelancers, sole traders, limited companies, contractors and consultants. The company presents itself as digitally oriented: policies can be quoted and bought online or discussed by telephone with staff, and it states that it avoids call centres and phone menus in favour of direct contact with insurance professionals.

The broker describes its origins in 1998, when founder Iain Hatfield set out to simplify business insurance by becoming what the company calls the UK's first quote-and-buy-online broker. That approach, combining expert advice with technology and personal service, is presented as the thread running from its early days to the present operation.

Cover arranged by occupation and by business type

The site organises its offering along two main axes. The first is profession: the catalogue lists cover for accountants, aesthetics practitioners, architects, beauty therapists, bookkeepers, business analysts, management consultants, cleaners, complementary therapists, copywriters, counsellors, design and illustration professionals, domiciliary care providers, education consultants, engineers, environmental consultants, estate agents, IT contractors, marketing specialists, nail technicians, online retailers, personal trainers, photographers, project managers, recruitment agencies, software developers, surveyors, tattoo artists, teachers and tutors, trainers and coaches, travel agents, videographers, virtual assistants, web designers and developers, and yoga and Pilates teachers, among others.

The second axis is legal or working structure: contractor insurance, consultant insurance, freelancer insurance, home business insurance, limited company insurance, self-employed insurance, shop insurance, sole trader insurance and tradesmen insurance. A separate section addresses charities, groups and clubs, with not-for-profit cover, community group insurance, club insurance, public liability, trustee indemnity, employers' liability and cyber insurance.

The main insurance types

• Professional indemnity: responds when a client alleges that work was not carried out as agreed, covering legal defence, remedial costs and compensation, whether or not the insured is ultimately at fault.
• Public liability: addresses claims that the business injured a person or damaged property, funding the defence and compensating the claimant.
• Employers' liability: covers allegations and claims from staff that the business made them ill or injured them; the company notes that UK businesses with employees are legally required to hold it, and that the definition of employees extends to volunteers, temps, work experience students and people lending a hand.
• Cyber insurance: covers the time and money needed to recover from a cyber-attack, including hardware repair, data restoration, customer compensation and lost income while offline.
• Directors' insurance, office insurance, commercial property, business contents, portable equipment and stock cover complete the range described on the site.

Medical malpractice insurance also appears among the products listed.

Service model and stated principles

The broker emphasises speed, paperless handling, no hidden costs, zero admin fees and no-interest payment options. It also stresses plain language, presenting itself as an alternative to jargon-heavy policies. The company says it supports clients from quote through to claim with advice it describes as honest and helpful.

Its own presentation cites scale: according to the site, more than 80,000 businesses trust its protection each year. The same material reports a rating of 4.8 out of 5 based on 6,390 reviews, and displays individual customer comments dated October 2026 from clients identifying themselves as an author, an aesthetics practitioner and a travel agency.

Advice content alongside the policies

Beyond insurance products, PolicyBee publishes an advice, news and know-how section aimed at small businesses and charities, with articles on topics such as aggregate versus any-one-claim policy limits, suing a company director and the insurance needs of online retailers. The site also maintains a glossary and an FAQ section.

Company details and regulation

PolicyBee Ltd is registered in England and Wales under company number 07421216, with its registered office at 7, The Close, Norwich, NR1 4DJ. It operates as an insurance intermediary authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under firm reference number 945969. The site's copyright notice covers 2011 to 2026.