Scaffolders work at height, on other people’s sites, above the public, and with materials that cause serious harm if they fall. That combination puts scaffolding in one of the hardest trades to place with an insurer, and it is why generic tradesman policies so often fail at the point of claim. Scaffolders insurance is the package built around that reality, and getting it right decides whether a bad day costs you an excess or costs you the business.
The Highlights
- Employers liability is a legal requirement at a statutory minimum of £5 million per occurrence.
- Falls from height caused 31 of the 126 worker deaths recorded in Great Britain in 2025/26.
- Most principal contractors now insist on £5 million or £10 million public liability before you set foot on site.
- Working height, use of subcontractors and NASC membership move your premium more than anything else.
01 Why Insurers Treat Scaffolding Differently
Underwriters price scaffolding on evidence, not impression, and the evidence is stark. The Health and Safety Executive recorded 126 worker fatalities in Great Britain in 2025/26. Falls from a height accounted for 31 of them, the largest single category, and construction accounted for 25 deaths, more than any other industry. Those figures are provisional and drawn from RIDDOR reports.
Figures published by the Health and Safety Executive, provisional for 2025/26.
A scaffolder carries all three of the exposures behind those numbers at once. Your own operatives work at height every day, which drives employers liability claims. Your structures stand over pavements and neighbouring property, which drives public liability claims. And the work you leave behind stays up long after you have gone, which is why insurers care as much about your inspection records as your accident history.
02 What the Law Requires Before You Quote for Work
Two legal duties sit underneath every scaffolders insurance policy, and insurers assume you already meet both.
The first is the duty of care itself. The Work at Height Regulations 2005 place the obligation squarely on the employer.
“Every employer shall take suitable and sufficient measures to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, any person falling a distance liable to cause personal injury.”
Work at Height Regulations 2005, regulation 6
The second is the insurance itself. Under the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Regulations 1998, an employer must hold cover of:
“not less than £5 million in respect of a claim relating to any one or more of those employees arising out of any one occurrence”
Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Regulations 1998, regulation 3
In practice almost every scaffolders policy in the UK market is written at £10 million, because that is the figure principal contractors ask for and because £5 million rarely reflects what a serious fall actually costs once care and loss of earnings are calculated.
Labour only operatives still count. If you direct how and when someone works, they are usually treated as your employee for insurance purposes even if they invoice you as self employed. Tell your broker how your gangs are actually made up, because a policy arranged on the wrong basis can leave a claim uninsured.
03 What Scaffolders Insurance Actually Includes
Scaffolders insurance is not a single product. It is a package assembled around the way your firm works, and these are the parts that matter most.
Employers liability
Public liability
Contract works
Tools, plant and materials
Professional indemnity
Personal accident
The design question decides whether you need professional indemnity. HSE guidance is clear that a scaffold outside a recognised basic configuration “must be designed by bespoke calculation, and by a competent person”. If your firm produces those calculations, you are giving professional advice and public liability alone will not answer a claim about it.
04 Choosing Your Public Liability Limit
Public liability is the cover clients check first. The limit you carry is often the difference between winning a contract and never being asked to price it. The tiers below reflect what the UK market typically writes rather than a recommendation for your firm.
£2 Million
Small domestic work, single storey access and jobs away from public thoroughfares.
- Sole traders and two person gangs
- Domestic clients and small builders
- Rarely accepted by principal contractors
£5 Million
The level most main contractors specify as a minimum before they will let you on site.
- Commercial and residential contracts
- Work over pavements and highways
- Accepted by most principal contractors
£10 Million
Required for local authority work, rail, schools, hospitals and most large framework agreements.
- Public sector and framework contracts
- High rise and city centre projects
- Often written alongside £10 million employers liability
Check the working height endorsement before the limit. Many scaffolders policies restrict cover to a stated height, commonly 10 metres or 15 metres. Erect above it without telling your insurer and the limit becomes irrelevant, because the claim falls outside the policy altogether.
05 The Questions Underwriters Will Ask
Scaffolding is underwritten on detail. Firms that answer clearly and evidence what they say consistently secure better terms than firms of the same size that cannot. Gather this before you approach the market.
- Maximum working height: the tallest scaffold you erect, and whether you ever exceed it. This is the single biggest rating factor in the trade.
- Training and cards: CISRS cards held by your operatives, and the ratio of qualified scaffolders to trainees on each gang.
- Membership: whether you are a NASC member, since NASC members are subject to audit and insurers price that difference.
- Inspection regime: HSE guidance requires inspection after installation, at intervals of no more than every 7 days, and after anything that could affect stability such as high winds.
- Design capability: whether you work to TG20 compliant configurations or produce bespoke calculations in house.
- Subcontractors: how much work you sublet, and whether you verify their own cover before they start.
- Claims history: five years of claims experience, including incidents reported but not paid.
Subcontractor cover is your problem too. If you sublet to a gang whose policy has lapsed, their claim usually lands on yours. Collect a copy of the certificate before the first lift goes up and diarise the renewal date.
06 Where Scaffolders Get Caught Out
Most declined claims in this trade come down to the same handful of issues, and every one of them is avoidable.
| What happens | Why the claim fails |
| Scaffold erected above the stated working height | Height endorsement breached, so the incident sits outside cover |
| No record of the 7 day inspection | Insurer cannot evidence the condition warranty was met |
| Labour only gang treated as self employed | Employers liability arranged on the wrong headcount |
| Subcontractor with lapsed cover | Their injury claim transfers to your policy, often uninsured |
| Materials stolen from an unattended site | Security conditions in the tools section not satisfied |
| Design produced in house without professional indemnity | Advice based claim falls outside public liability |
07 What Moves Your Premium
Two scaffolding firms with identical turnover can be quoted very differently. These are the factors that explain the gap.
- Working height: premiums rise steeply once you go beyond domestic scale, because severity rises with every additional lift.
- Type of work: housing and light commercial rate more favourably than rail, petrochemical, listed buildings and city centre highway work.
- Wage roll: employers liability is rated on payroll, so accurate declarations matter at renewal as well as inception.
- Accreditation: NASC membership, CISRS cards and a documented safety system all improve terms.
- Claims record: frequency of small claims often affects pricing more than one large loss.
- Sums insured: understate your tube and fitting stock and any claim will be reduced by the proportion you underinsured.
Declare peak stock, not average stock. Scaffolders routinely hold far more material in the yard during a quiet week than during a busy one. Insure the peak, because average value cover is exactly where underinsurance bites.
08 Arranging Cover With Nova Insurance
We arrange tradesman liability insurance for firms working at height across the UK, and we know that scaffolding needs handling differently from most trades. That means getting the working height right at the outset, checking how your gangs are made up, comparing the conditions attached to public liability insurance rather than just the limit, and making sure your contract works and stock figures reflect what you actually hold.
If you are reviewing your current arrangements, taking on higher work, or buying scaffolders insurance for the first time, speak to our team and we will work through it with you.
The Short Version
- Employers liability is compulsory at a statutory minimum of £5 million, though the market standard is £10 million.
- Falls from a height caused 31 of the 126 worker deaths recorded in Great Britain in 2025/26, which is why this trade is rated as it is.
- Public liability of £5 million is the usual entry requirement for main contractor work, and £10 million for public sector contracts.
- The working height endorsement voids more scaffolding claims than any other clause. Declare your true maximum.
- Record every 7 day inspection, collect subcontractor certificates before work starts, and insure your peak stock rather than your average.
Cover built around how your gangs actually work
Speak to a broker who understands working height endorsements, NASC audits, CISRS cards and where a generic tradesman policy leaves you exposed.
Nova Insurance has been proudly serving clients across the UK since 1995. This article is general information and not legal or regulatory advice. Cover varies between insurers, so always read the policy wording and speak to your broker about your own circumstances. Health and safety figures quoted are provisional 2025/26 statistics published by the Health and Safety Executive.