Danny Flowers, client director at Motum Insurance Services, reflects on the importance of keeping on top of your insurance to avoid spiralling annual costs.
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Published in association with
LET’S BE honest – National Insurance going up wasn’t on anyone’s wishlist.
It’s just another hit to your margins. Another decision made far away, landing straight on your bottom line. And like most things from HMRC, there’s not much you can do to change it.
But here’s the thing – in uncertain market conditions, when costs are creeping up from every angle, it’s more important than ever to take a proper look at the expenses you can influence. And one of the biggest (and most neglected) is insurance.
For many businesses, insurance is one of the most significant annual spends – right behind payroll and rent. And yet, it’s often seen as offering the least value. A grudge purchase. Just another invoice to pay.
But if NI’s slicing into your profit, ignoring your insurance spend could be doing the same – quietly, year after year.
Because here’s the reality: most businesses have one of three insurance problems.
The Set-and-Forget Problem
You haven’t reviewed your insurance in years. You’ve stuck with the same broker out of habit, assuming they’re still keeping you properly covered. Maybe they are. Maybe they’re not. But if no one’s challenged the cover recently, how can you be sure it’s still right for your business today?
The Wasted Spend Problem
You’re insured correctly, but you’re not getting the most from your premium. Maybe you’re overpaying in low-risk areas, or missing savings that could come from restructuring your policy or leveraging your spend more effectively. Without a proper review, those inefficiencies just carry on unnoticed.
The Fear Factor
You know your cover isn’t quite right – but the worry is that changing anything will just cost more. So you leave it. You accept “probably fine” instead of taking a proper look. It’s a quiet kind of fear, but it keeps businesses stuck – and often paying more than they should.
And then there are the few who think it’ll never happen to them.
They tend to be the ones who suffer the most when it does.
So what’s the link to NI?
Simple. Both NI and insurance are costs that affect your margin. But there’s a key difference: you have no control over one – and total control over the other.
Too many businesses see insurance as a product: a policy, a PDF, a tick-box. But really, it’s a contract between two parties. A negotiation. And like any contract, it needs to be reviewed, challenged, and tailored – especially when margins are under pressure.
That’s where the right broker adds value. Not just by placing a policy, but by making sure your spend is smart, your cover is right, and your business isn’t throwing money at the wrong risks.
A final thought: You can’t change what HMRC does. But your insurance? That’s yours to get on top of. And right now, the businesses that do are the ones that stay lean, stay protected – and stay in control.
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