If your business is expanding overseas, your existing UK insurance policy almost certainly won’t cover you, and buying insurance yourself in a new country can leave you breaking rules you didn’t know existed. The safest approach is to use a UK broker who can arrange comprehensive, locally valid cover in each country you operate in, rather than a UK policy stretched to fit.
Here’s what changes when you operate abroad, and how a broker arranges it:
What Changes When Your Business Operates Overseas
Opening an office, hiring staff or signing contracts overseas brings risks your UK policy was never built for. Employment law is different. Contract law is different. In some countries, it is illegal to insure a local risk through a company that isn’t licensed to sell insurance there, regardless of what your UK policy says. Even a single sales office abroad can trigger local insurance and tax rules a UK insurer cannot deal with.
Why Your UK Policy Probably Doesn’t Follow You Abroad
Most UK business insurance is written with UK risk in mind. “Worldwide cover” on a UK policy usually means short business trips, not running an ongoing office or team overseas. Even where a UK policy does pay out, it generally assumes any dispute is settled under UK law, which is not how most other countries work.
The limit sits in the territorial limits clause, and only 7% of people read insurance terms and conditions in full (source: Skandia), so it is rarely spotted until a claim is made abroad.
Ask your insurer or broker: does my policy cover ongoing operations abroad, or just occasional business travel?
Non-Admitted Insurance: The Trap Most Businesses Don’t Know About
If a business extends its UK insurance to a new country without using a locally licensed insurer, that cover can be invalid in the country where the risk sits. This is called non-admitted insurance, and many countries restrict or prohibit it, even when the insurer is a well-known name and the cover looks sound on paper. A claim under invalid cover can be turned down outright, and in some countries the business itself is fined. Our case study on whether your current insurance leaves you exposed looks at the same blind spot.
What a Global Insurance Programme Actually Is
In plain terms, a global insurance programme means holding a valid insurance policy in every country you operate in, each meeting that particular country’s rules, all coordinated so your cover and limits stay consistent rather than being renegotiated every time you open somewhere new. See our Global Insurance Programmes page for how Castlemead sets this up.
How UK Brokers Arrange International Cover
There are two main ways brokers do this. Some have their own offices in other countries, which gives direct control, but only where they are actually based. Others work through a network of trusted local brokers, which reaches further but depends on the quality of those relationships. Many brokers, including Castlemead, use both.
What to Ask a Broker About International Capability
If you need a broker who can handle international business risks and global programmes, check two things before you commit. First, ask whether the broker has its own offices abroad or works through local partners, and ask for names. Second, ask which countries it can arrange cover in immediately. A broker who cannot answer both is probably stretching a UK policy rather than arranging genuine local cover.
Our guide to choosing a commercial insurance broker covers the wider questions worth putting to any firm before you appoint it.
How Castlemead Handles It
Castlemead has its own office in France, in Compiègne near Paris, and works with trusted broker partners across 150 countries through the Global Broker Network, plus TechAssure for technology and cyber risk cover. Current clients are covered in countries including Poland, Bulgaria, France, Germany and Turkey, and every business is looked after by one Castlemead contact, no matter how many countries it operates in. The firm is a Chartered insurance broker, authorised and regulated by the FCA under firm reference number 303956.
We’ve been helping UK businesses manage risk, at home and abroad, since 1987. If you’re expanding overseas and want to talk your insurance through, no obligation, no jargon, give us a call on 0117 945 3907 or get in touch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which UK insurance brokers can arrange international and global insurance programmes?
There is no single best UK broker for international and global insurance programmes, but there is a reliable way to identify the right one. Few independent UK brokers have genuine international reach, so look for a firm with its own offices abroad or an established network of local partners, rather than one extending a UK policy overseas. Castlemead arranges EU cover through its own French office, and cover elsewhere through the Global Broker Network across 150 countries, with TechAssure for technology and cyber risk.
My business is expanding overseas: which UK broker can arrange international cover?
Start the conversation before the overseas entity begins trading, not after. A broker needs to know which countries you are entering, whether you will employ people locally, and what your contracts require, because this changes what must be bought locally. Castlemead handles EU expansion through its own office in France, and expansion elsewhere through local partners across 150 countries, all coordinated by one UK contact. Ask any broker for the names of the offices or partners it would use in your countries.
What is a global insurance programme?
A global insurance programme is a coordinated set of local insurance policies, one in each country a business operates in, sitting under a master policy that keeps cover and limits consistent across the group. It differs from extending a UK policy abroad, which often is not valid locally, and from buying cover country by country, which leaves gaps and inconsistent limits that nobody is tracking. Programmes suit mid-market businesses with subsidiaries, employees or long-term contracts overseas, rather than those whose only overseas activity is travel.
Does my UK business insurance cover my overseas operations?
Usually not, or only in part. Check the territorial limits and jurisdiction clauses in your policy wording: territorial limits state where cover applies, and the jurisdiction clause states whose courts decide a dispute. Many UK policies extend to overseas business travel while excluding a permanent office, locally employed staff, or contracts performed abroad. If your policy is silent on a country you now trade in, treat that as a gap rather than as cover. It is worth checking before you expand, not after something has gone wrong.
What is non-admitted insurance and why does it matter?
Non-admitted insurance is cover placed with an insurer that is not licensed to write business in the country where the risk sits, usually a UK policy stretched to include a new territory. Countries restrict it because insurance is regulated and taxed locally. The consequences fall on the buyer: a claim may not be payable locally, premium tax may go unpaid, and in some countries, the insured business is fined rather than the insurer. Ask who issued your policy and whether that insurer is licensed where the risk sits.
Which commercial insurance brokers specialise in international business cover?
Brokers who genuinely specialise in international cover do three things that generalists do not. They issue local policies rather than extending a UK one. They build in difference-in-conditions and difference-in-limits cover so the local and master policies do not contradict each other. They keep one account executive across every territory. Castlemead works this way through its own office in France, the Global Broker Network across 150 countries, and TechAssure for technology and cyber risk. Ask any broker to name the partner it would use in each of your territories.
