What is leisure insurance?

If the idea of ‘leisure’ is wide-ranging, the concept of leisure insurance is even more so.

The term ‘leisure’ is hugely broad and can take on various meanings, but in its simplest form, ‘leisure’ refers to your free time away from work or other day-to-day responsibilities.

It’s during leisure time that people often partake in activities of particular interest to them or maintain hobbies such as playing sports, gardening, or learning a musical instrument—to name a few common examples.

In this article, we’ll look at what leisure insurance is, some of the different types of leisure insurance, why it’s important, and why you may want to consider it for your leisure activities or leisure-based business.

How do you define leisure insurance?

Leisure insurance is a form of financial protection designed to protect individuals and businesses from the various risks associated with leisure activities and the leisure industry.

Not only is leisure insurance an important consideration for individuals, but it can also be highly beneficial for businesses and organisations that provide activities and services to members of the community.

Businesses in the leisure sector face a wide range of risks as part of their day-to-day operations. Whether it’s a sports club that runs weekly football sessions, a youth club that provides activities and opportunities to young people, or a community choir group that practices in a village hall, each leisure business comes with its own set of unique risks and considerations.

Leisure insurance is designed to help safeguard against these risks and provide financial security and compensation for businesses and individuals should the worst happen.

What are the different types of leisure insurance?

There are various types of leisure insurance available in the UK, depending on your needs as either an individual or a business, and as we’ve already discussed, either can choose to get cover.

Leisure insurance for individuals

When looking at individuals, perhaps one of the UK’s most commonly bought leisure insurance types is travel insurance. In fact, figures from the travel insurance industry show that the UK market is currently valued at more than £450m, with this set to rise to almost £600m by 2028.

Further to this, a study by Forbes Advisor in June 2023 found that 77% of Brits had purchased travel insurance at some point, with almost half (48%) purchasing cover every time they travel abroad.

And these figures would appear to ring true. After all, how many times have you quickly compared insurance quotes online before jetting off on holiday? Our guess is probably a few times, at least.

Through Ripe, however, leisure insurance can come in several other forms, including:

• Caravan, motorhome and campervan insurance: protection against theft, loss and damage to caravans, motorhomes and campervans, plus associated equipment and accessories
• Sports insurance: can include cover for equipment such as golf clubs and bicycles, plus cover for accidents and injuries associated with playing certain sports
• Boat insurance: cover against theft, loss and damage to boats, boating equipment and accessories
• Music insurance: cover against theft, loss and damage to musical instruments and other related equipment

Through Ripe, you can also get specialist leisure insurance for activities such as shooting and photography. Check out Ripe’s extensive product portfolio to see whether you could get cover for your leisure interests.

Leisure insurance for businesses

Things can become somewhat more complex when it comes to leisure insurance for businesses that operate within the leisure sector.

Through Ripe, leisure-based businesses can build a policy to suit their individual needs. Let’s say you’re a specialist sporting club, leisure or community centre—cover through Ripe can include the following:

• Public and Products Liability: designed to protect you against claims for events such as bodily injury to third parties or damage to their property caused by an activity your business has undertaken
• Management Liability: protects against any wrongful act committed by a person acting as a director, officer or trustee of your business
• Professional Indemnity: protects against costs arising from negligent acts, errors or omissions where advice or a service has been provided to a client
• Employers’ Liability: this is a legal requirement if you have employees. This protects against injuries caused to an employee while they are working for your business
• Buildings: protects you against damage to the building that you are responsible for—whether it be owned or leased by your business

In addition to these cover options, when building a policy through Ripe, you can also choose further cover for things like property damage, portable equipment, loss of licence, business interruption and money. Read more about your options here.

Perhaps the most important point to remember when it comes to leisure insurance for businesses is that if you employ staff, Employers’ Liability cover is a minimum legal requirement. Regardless of whether you have one or 100 employees, Employers’ Liability cover protects against injuries caused to them while they are working for you.

Why is leisure insurance important?

There are several reasons why leisure insurance is important, many of which we’ve already discussed. If you’re an individual using your cover as a way of protecting yourself while enjoying your hobbies, it’s important because it provides peace of mind that you’ll be compensated in the event of things such as equipment theft or injury.

If you’re a business, on the other hand, you should already be well aware of the risks that come with operating within the leisure sector.

Regardless of whether you’re a large or small organisation or what specific leisure activities your business involves, working directly with the public means your business is potentially vulnerable to things like:

• injury claims
• equipment theft, loss and damage
• property or premises damage
• fires
• legal disputes

Covering your leisure business in the event of any of the above is extremely important. And, as we’ve already discussed, Employers’ Liability cover is a legal requirement if you have employees working for your business.

Why should I consider leisure insurance?

There are multiple reasons why you might want to consider leisure insurance. Firstly, if you own and operate a leisure business, it’s important to protect yourself and the business against possible disruption.

For example, let’s say…

• equipment kept on your business premises is stolen or damaged
• adverse weather conditions cause damage to your business premises
• a customer gets injured and blames you

Without insurance, events like these could leave you sizably out of pocket and even leave your leisure business unable to trade for large periods. Even if you do not own the building from which your business operates, you could still be deemed liable for damage resulting from your business’ activities.

And even if you don’t own a leisure business, you may still want to consider protecting your hobbies with specialist leisure insurance to give you peace of mind while doing what you love.

What to look for in leisure insurance

What you look for in leisure insurance will ultimately depend on your needs as an individual or business. So, whichever category you fall into, it’s important to make sure that whatever policy you choose is the right one and matches your needs.

Through Ripe, you can build a policy to suit your needs and ensure that you have an all-encompassing policy to cover any insured risk you may face.

And, because you can build your own policy, you can rest assured that you’ll never have to pay for cover you don’t need.

Sporting club, leisure, and community insurance through Ripe

If you want peace of mind when running your leisure business, you may want to consider having specialist insurance in place to cover all the bases and protect you should the worst happen.

Through Ripe, there are many cover options to choose from, including Public and Products Liability to protect your business against third-party claims, and Legal Costs cover for pursuing or defending a claim. You can also opt for Buildings Cover to protect any buildings your business owns or leases.

Click here to learn more about sporting club, leisure and community insurance coming soon to Ripe.