The care industry in Britain is a vast and complex business with exacting standards and particular demands. With an ageing population, the industry is set to grow and government and industry leaders are continually looking at ways to provide better service, while managing costs.

One area of growth in the industry is that of domiciliary care. This refers to the practice of providing support and care for a person in their own home. In many ways, this is perhaps the most demanding area of the care industry. No two patients have exactly the same care requirements and the care provider must be extremely flexible in their service delivery methods

The importance of domiciliary care insurance

The nature of the domiciliary care sector can make it even more important to have the correct insurance in place and any domiciliary care insurance policy must be able to cope with the complexity experienced by these businesses. Health and safety concerns loom large in the sector. Many carers must provide a huge variety of complex services to their clients and this is made more difficult by the domestic environments where the work is carried out. In a standard care home, the company is able to control the environment and provide the specialist equipment required. This may not always be the case in a patient’s own home.

Domiciliary care insurance for employees on the move

Domiciliary care insurance must therefore include adequate cover for employer’s liability claims, where employees are put at risk by aspects of their work in patient’s homes. Such employees will no doubt be travelling extensively every day between appointments and the domiciliary care insurance policy must also provide cover for these periods of the working day. Clearly, an employee faces different risks when working outside of a controlled environment and a good domiciliary care insurance policy will reflect this.

Getting your domiciliary care insurance right

With such a specialist business, it is sensible to discuss your insurance requirements with a broker who has specific domiciliary care insurance experience. This will make it much easier to ensure that you get exactly the cover you are looking for. Your domiciliary care insurance policy may contain some general cover, such and buildings and contents and business continuity cover, but it must also tackle the unique aspects of the business. Clearly this is no job for a generalist insurance company and your specialist domiciliary care insurance broker will be far better placed to deliver the perfect product.