Calgary Child Care Insurance
As a child care provider or early educator, you are charged with caring for the most precious and valued people in any parent's life—their children. Your services make it possible for parents to work without worrying about the safety of their children, and you give kids a jump-start in life by getting them familiar with group care and educational activities before they start school. But as necessary and important as your services are, providing child care also leaves you vulnerable to some major liability risks that could result in eye-watering legal defence costs and settlement expenses. The best way to avoid serious financial losses caused by litigation or property damage issues is with the protection of Calgary child care insurance coverage from Krywolt Insurance. Speak to our experienced brokers today to find out more about your child care insurance needs and how to address them with a comprehensive daycare insurance package.
What Is Child Care Insurance?
Child care insurance, or daycare insurance, is a package of business insurance coverages designed to address the needs of those who provide child care services in general, but it's also tailored to accommodate the unique insurance needs of each individual policyholder. No two business owners run their business exactly the same or have identical risk exposures, so you may need or want different types of coverage and different coverage limits than the child care centre down the street.
Our Calgary child care insurance offers financial protection for a wide range of perils, many of them liability-related, that could lead to significant financial setbacks without insurance compensation. If you have legal action brought against you, you will need funds from your child care insurance provider to pay for legal mediation, legal defence fees, settlement costs and more. On the property insurance side, should your business property and its contents suffer damage or be destroyed by an insured peril such as fire, natural disasters or vandalism, your insurance carrier will provide you with funds to cover the cost of building restoration and replacement for your belongings, up to the coverage limit on your policy.
Who Needs Child Care Insurance in Calgary?
Anyone who offers child care services needs the financial protection of child care provider insurance. That includes businesses such as:
- Child care centres
- Daycare centres
- Day homes
- Nursery schools
- Preschools
- Early learning centres
- After-school care
Regardless of where the care takes place, whether it's at a commercial property, your home or even your clients' homes, you need that insurance protection against financial losses that is afforded by the right daycare insurance in Calgary.
What Types of Coverage Are Available for Child Care Insurance?
There are a wide variety of coverage types for Calgary child care insurance that you may need for your comprehensive coverage package, depending on your particular risk exposures. However, there are also certain types, such as professional liability, commercial general liability and commercial property insurance, that every child care provider needs. Here is some further information on the types of insurance coverage you definitely need, as well as some types you may need or want to consider.
Professional Liability Insurance
Professional liability, which is also known as errors and omissions insurance, is a critically important part of child care insurance. Calgary residents will note that this coverage applies to professionals who are vulnerable to accusations of negligence because of the services they provide, along with allegations of misconduct and failure to deliver promised services. For example, if one of your daycare employees failed to read a child's information correctly and offered them food they were allergic to, that child could suffer a serious allergic reaction. As a result, their parents could choose to sue you for negligence that caused harm to their child. In a situation like that, your professional liability coverage would prompt your Calgary child care insurance company to provide you with funds to cover costs associated with litigation.
Commercial Property Insurance
As a child care provider, you can't just take your laptop down to the local coffee shop and work there—you need a physical location suited to the needs of the children you look after. That could be a commercial property that you own or lease, or it could be your home. Either way, commercial property insurance is a must-have part of your Calgary child care insurance package. If your workspace is destroyed or damaged by something like a natural disaster or fire, you won't be able to provide child care services until it has been restored to a safe, usable condition. At the same time, the costs associated with building restoration and replacing damaged items can be astronomical. Your clients have to continue going to work or following their daily routines, so if you can't get the damage repaired in a timely manner, they'll be forced to look elsewhere for child care. Commercial property insurance gives you the funds you need to get restoration and replacement processes underway quickly so you can recover from disaster and get back to serving your clients. It's also worthwhile to consider business interruption coverage, which is a type of property insurance that offers you compensation for loss of income should you be prevented from working because your business property was damaged and needs restoration.
Abuse Liability Insurance
You probably wouldn't dream of abusing a child, but that doesn't mean you are impervious to allegations of abuse. Young children are not always the most reliable sources of information, and parents are, of course, very sensitive to any hint that their most vulnerable family members may have suffered some type of abuse while they were in someone else's care. That can lead to allegations and lawsuits that you will be forced to defend against in court, even if you didn't do anything wrong. Abuse coverage offers you financial assistance, up to your policy limits, to deal with the costs of litigation when allegations are made against you of an act or threat of physical, mental or sexual abuse, misconduct or harassment.
Additional Daycare Insurance Coverage
- Commercial General Liability (CGL)
- Cyber Liability Insurance
- Legal Expenses Insurance
- Commercial Auto Insurance
- Directors and Officers Insurance
- Business Interruption Insurance
- Crime Insurance
- Equipment Breakdown Insurance
- Employment Practices Liability Insurance
Frequently Asked Questions About Calgary Child Care Insurance
If you have questions about child care insurance in Calgary, or you're ready to get started on a quote for the right insurance coverage to fit your needs, give us a call today at (403) 879-8660 to speak with an experienced insurance broker at Krywolt Insurance. Our trustworthy team of qualified brokers knows where to look to find the best Calgary child care insurance package, so you can have the total peace of mind that comes with knowing you are protected against significant financial losses in the event of an insured peril.
Is Calgary Child Care Insurance Legally Mandatory?
Like most types of business insurance, child care insurance is not legally mandated by the government, so in that sense, it's not mandatory. But that doesn't mean you can go without it. Many parents will refuse to put their child into a daycare or nursery school that cannot provide proof of insurance coverage, so without child care insurance, you could wind up getting far fewer clients than you would otherwise. Perhaps more importantly than that, there are far too many liability risks involved with caring for other people's children to go without the protection that is afforded by child care insurance in Calgary. Anyone who has ever been sued before will tell you that the costs can be overwhelming. If you're forced to pay out of pocket for legal defence, settlements and even property damage restoration, it could be enough to spell the end for your business. There's no sense in putting yourself through that stress when you can have the financial stability provided by child care insurance at a reasonable cost.
Is Child Care in a Day Home Covered By Homeowners Insurance?
This is a fairly common misconception, but the fact is that a homeowners insurance policy does not and can not provide adequate insurance for daycares run out of the business owner's home. A typical home insurance policy offers some coverage for personal liability, but it doesn't cover professional liability, abuse liability, commercial general liability and other types of liability coverage that are essential for child care providers. It's also important to understand that your home insurance policy likely doesn't offer any coverage at all for business activities or damage that occurs while you're engaged in business activities.
Suppose you have a day home in your basement, which suffers heavy damage from overland flooding. In that case, your home insurance may not offer you compensation for restoration and replacement because that part of your house is used for business purposes. That's why commercial property insurance and various forms of liability insurance are important and necessary parts of Calgary child care insurance, even if you operate your business out of your home.
