The micro business is the most exciting size from an insurance point of view: no longer one person, not yet an organisation. Every new colleague, machine and client brings a new risk – while the time and attention available for insurance stays just as limited. The answer isn't more policies, but better structure.
- The skeleton is the same as for larger companies: property + liability + (if there are vehicles) fleet – just scaled to size.
- With the first colleagues, the human layer appears: accident cover, employer's liability questions.
- Even a few contracts can be messy: the renewal table is the basis of order for a micro business too.
The skeleton: property, liability, vehicles
A micro business's portfolio backbone has three elements. Commercial property cover for premises – for a rented office or workshop too: the furnishings and stock belong to the company, and the landlord often expects the cover (first premises lease). Operational/professional liability – this grows together with the size of your clients: bigger partner, bigger expected limit. And vehicles: with two or three cars, it's already worth looking at fleet logic.
The human layer: your first colleagues
Hiring your first colleague is a legal and emotional turning point too – from an insurance perspective it brings two new questions: what happens if the colleague is injured at work, and what happens if they cause damage. The details are unpacked in the first employee article; for team-level protection, group accident cover is the natural entry point – available even at micro-business scale.
The structure: few policies, one system
It's typical for a micro business to have three to five contracts, with three to five different renewal dates, and nobody remembers what each one actually covers. The cure is disproportionately cheap for its benefit: a renewal table and a simple cover map – half an hour of work, and the portfolio becomes transparent. From there, the annual routine is just maintenance: annual review.
When should you move on?
The micro-business structure works for as long as the company is genuinely micro: as you approach the tenth employee, or when the first major tender or a second site appears, the portfolio needs new layers – benefits, project cover, more serious limits. That's what the next step is about: the 10+ employee company.
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