Street Food Insurance UK - 6 Providers Compared (2026)

Street Food Insurance UK: 6 Providers Compared

You're pulling up to your first event of the season. Gate staff ask for your insurance certificate. You don't have one. Event organiser cancels you on the spot. No pitch fee back, no trading, nothing. You've lost the day's takings before the first customer even smelled your food.

That's why street food insurance UK matters. Not in some abstract way, but right now, practically, because event organisers demand it and local councils enforce it. This guide cuts through the noise and shows you what six actual providers offer, what they cost, and which one fits your setup.

What Insurance Do You Actually Need?

Let's split this into three categories: what's legally required, what you can't trade without, and what protects you against genuinely bad days.

Employers' liability insurance is the only legally mandatory cover if you've got staff. Just one employee and you're legally required to carry it. You'll face fines of up to £2,500 per day per employee if you're caught without it. Even with a family member helping out, if they're paid, you need it. Most providers bundle this in automatically if you tick the right box.

Public liability insurance isn't legally required by law. That's the surprising bit. But practically speaking, you can't trade without it. Event organisers won't let you pitch. Local councils require it for street trading licenses. Your pitch fee deposit is worthless if you can't prove coverage. Cover levels range from £1m to £10m, depending on where you're trading. Markets and local events accept £1m or £2m. Festivals and larger events expect £5m or £10m.

Everything else is genuinely optional. Equipment cover, stock cover, public transport cover, health and safety prosecution cover. Some vendors need it; most don't. A food truck with £15,000 of kit might want equipment cover. Someone with a hand-pushed trolley probably doesn't. We'll break this down properly when we get to each provider.

The Providers: What You're Actually Getting

NCASS Insurance

NCASS has been the traditional player in this space for years. They're who most street food traders think of first. Phone-based quotes, no online calculator, which means you'll be on the phone explaining your setup to someone who knows the catering insurance world inside out.

They offer £5m or £10m public liability, employers' liability included, annual policies only. Member discount gets you about 15% off if you're part of a food traders association. Their strength is knowledge; their weakness is speed. You're not getting a quote in five minutes online. You're getting proper advice after a ten-minute chat.

Cost varies wildly depending on your setup. A sole trader doing events might pay £150 a year. A small operation with one employee trading year-round could be £300-£500. They don't publish prices online, which means comparison is harder.

Protectivity

Protectivity is the online-first option. From £5.82/month if you're a sole trader with minimal equipment. Public liability from £1m to £10m, so you can start small and scale up as you land bigger events. Equipment cover available from £250 to £10,000, which is genuinely useful if your actual kit is worth insuring separately.

Their dashboard is clean. You answer questions online, add cover bits as needed, and get a quote in minutes. Quotes are fixed for thirty days, so you can think it over without the pressure. Cover starts the next day if you pay same-day.

They're competitive on price for small operations trading sporadically. Less competitive if you need high cover limits and employers' liability combined. You'll be paying a bit more than CMTIA for comparable cover, but you get a slicker experience.

Simply Business

Simply Business quotes from £5.64/month. That's genuinely cheap. They typically offer up to £2m public liability as standard cover, which works fine for most local events but won't cut it for festivals or bigger trading. Excess on public liability claims is £2,500, which is worth knowing if a customer claims food poisoning (your excess, their claim).

Their strength is price. Their weakness is that you might outgrow the cover quickly. Once you're trading at multiple events, you'll probably need £5m or £10m cover, which pushes the cost up and might mean switching providers. Employers' liability is available but quoted separately.

They're a comparison site broker rather than a direct insurer, which means they're pulling quotes from underwriters behind the scenes. Customer service is online chat and phone, but you're often dealing with someone reading a script rather than someone who understands street food specifically.

Mobilers

Mobilers is the specialist that most traders don't know about. They've been doing mobile catering insurance for over twenty years. They're a partner of NCASS, so there's overlap, but they've built their own reputation in the industry.

Phone-based quotes, £5m or £10m cover, employers' liability included. Their team actually knows what street food is because they've been insuring it since before Instagram made it trendy. That matters when something goes wrong and you need to explain why you were trading in the rain on a Tuesday.

Pricing sits in the middle ground. Not the cheapest on the market, but not premium either. They're the option if you want to talk to someone who gets it without paying for a fancy brand name. You'll be on the phone, but that phone call is with someone who's insured thousands of food vendors.

CMTIA

CMTIA stands out because they've done something unusual: made public liability cheap and straightforward. £69 per year for £5m cover. £82 per year for £10m. That's it. Fixed prices, no variables, no hidden bits.

Their online application takes two minutes. You'll have documentation in twenty minutes. If you need it today, they offer one-day policies from £27. That's genuinely useful if you've lost a certificate or need to cover a last-minute event.

The catch? They only do public liability. If you need employers' liability, you're buying that elsewhere. If you need equipment cover, you're buying that elsewhere. It's not a problem if you're a sole trader with no staff, but it's limiting if your operation is more complex. They're the provider for straightforward cover at an excellent price, not comprehensive cover.

Bollington

Bollington is the 40-year specialist that's still family-run. They do a proper job of it, with cover that goes beyond what most providers offer. Health and safety prosecution cover is included, which actually matters if an inspector finds something wrong. Fire cover, replacement vehicle cover, the bits that make you sleep at night during the off-season when you're not using your van.

Their quotes aren't online. You're calling them, and they're doing proper underwriting, which takes a few days. But the cover you end up with is more comprehensive than you'll get from an online quote in five minutes. If something actually goes wrong, you've got someone in your corner who's handled decades of similar claims.

Pricing is higher than CMTIA or Simply Business, but not dramatically. You're paying for depth of cover and genuine expertise. They're the provider if your setup is complex, if you've got assets to protect, or if you trade year-round and want to know you're genuinely covered.

Side-by-Side Comparison

What You'll Actually Pay: The Real Costs

Let's work through real scenarios because "from £5.64/month" is meaningless without context.

Scenario 1: Sole trader, weekend events, minimal kit.

You're trading Friday to Sunday at farmers markets and local events. No staff, your equipment is a couple of tables and a portable cooker you've owned forever.

Simply Business comes in around £5.64/month (£67.68/year) with £2m cover. That works for farmers markets but won't work for festivals. CMTIA hits £69/year for £5m cover, which is basically identical pricing but better cover. Protectivity sits at roughly £70/year. All three are genuinely affordable. You're not going to struggle with cost; you're going to struggle choosing between them.

Scenario 2: One employee, year-round trading, multiple events.

You've got a part-time employee helping with setup and service. You're trading three days a week consistently. You need employers' liability plus public liability at £5m because you're hitting festivals now.

NCASS would quote somewhere in the £200–£350 range depending on the employee's exact hours (they ask detailed questions). Mobilers would be similar. Simply Business gets more expensive here because you need separate employers' liability. Protectivity scales up too. You're looking at roughly £250–£400 for comprehensive cover. CMTIA doesn't solve this because they don't offer employers' liability.

Scenario 3: Mobile catering business, decent equipment, consistent pitches.

You've got £8,000 of kit (van upfitting, specialist cookers, point-of-sale system). You're trading five days a week year-round. You've got one or two employees. You need £10m cover and equipment coverage.

This is where Bollington's quote makes sense. They'll do proper underwriting, include equipment cover at the right value, and give you peace of mind that isn't reflected in a monthly subscription. You're probably looking at £400–£600 depending on your exact setup. Protectivity and Mobilers would quote lower (£250–£400 range), but you're self-insuring your equipment if anything happens to it. Which is the real risk? That's what determines the actual cost.

What Event Organisers Actually Require

This matters more than you'd think because you can't trade if you don't meet their requirements, regardless of what you're insured for.

Farmers markets and local community events typically ask for £1m public liability. Street festivals ask for £5m. Major events, sponsorship-based festivals, and anything attracting serious crowds wants £10m. Some specifically state they won't accept less than £10m. A few large corporate events ask for additional named insured clauses or require the event organiser to be added to your policy.

Your insurance certificate needs to be current and valid on the trading date. Some events ask for it sixty days in advance. Some ask for it the week before. A handful demand it on gate arrival with no exceptions. Checking requirements before you commit to a pitch is how you avoid the gatekeeping scenario from the beginning.

Most event organisers don't actually call your insurer to verify coverage. They check that the certificate looks legitimate and that the cover amounts match what they've asked for. One in fifty events might actually verify, usually because previous food vendors had problems. It's not worth faking or stretching the truth about your cover because the one time it matters is when you've actually got a claim and the insurer finds out.

Common Claims in Mobile Catering Insurance

Insurance exists for two reasons: catastrophic events that would bankrupt you and frequent small problems that add up. Street food gets both.

The catastrophic event is a customer's allergic reaction or food poisoning claim. Someone eats your food, gets seriously ill, claims it was your fault, and suddenly you're defending a claim that might run to £10,000 or £100,000. Public liability covers this. Your excess is usually between £250 and £2,500. That's the bit you pay; the insurer covers the rest up to your cover limit. That's why £2m cover becomes inadequate for serious claims. If you lose a £5m claim, £2m doesn't cover it.

The frequent small problem is customer injury. Someone slips on water by your pitch, trips over your equipment cable, burns themselves on a hot food container. Hundreds of traders have incidents like this every year. Small claims under £5,000 are common. Excesses are usually about £500, so you're paying something out of pocket plus insurance admin.

Equipment damage is covered if you've paid for that extra. Food poisoning claims are covered by public liability, not food-specific insurance (most people misunderstand this). Illness suffered by your employee is covered by employers' liability and general injury cover.

The honest thing? Most traders never claim. You pay the premium, never need it, and think it's money wasted. Until one day you do need it and realising you skipped it would bankrupt you. That's the real maths.

Which Provider Actually Suits Your Setup

Pick CMTIA if you're a sole trader with minimal kit, you're trading sporadically, and you need cover cheap and fast. You'll spend £69–£82 a year and not think about it again. If you suddenly need a policy for tomorrow's event, they're the only provider who'll do it.

Pick Simply Business if you're just starting out, you've got a tight budget, and you're only hitting small local events. Their pricing is genuinely competitive at entry level. Upgrade to another provider later when you've scaled up.

Pick Protectivity if you want online quotes with flexibility, you might add equipment cover later, and you like the idea of scaling your cover limits as your business grows. Slick platform, reasonable pricing, no phone calls required.

Pick NCASS if you're part of a traders association, you prefer talking to humans, and you want the traditional name most organisers recognise. The 15% member discount makes the pricing competitive. Phone-based is slower, but you get proper advice in return.

Pick Mobilers if you want specialist service that actually understands street food specifically, you prefer phone quotes, and you don't mind paying a bit more for expertise. Genuinely useful if your setup is unusual or you've had previous insurance rejections.

Pick Bollington if you're trading year-round with assets you need protected, you've got employees and complex requirements, or you've had claims issues before. Pay more upfront, get proper comprehensive cover, sleep better.

FAQs: What Traders Actually Ask

Can I trade without public liability insurance?

Legally? For a single day, maybe. Practically? No. Event organisers won't book you. Local councils won't grant licenses. Other vendors will call you out. You'd be trading illegally even if the law technically allows it. Get insured before your first event.

What's the difference between public liability and employers' liability?

Public liability covers injury to customers or damage to the event venue or other people's property. Employers' liability covers injury to your employees while they're working. If you've got staff, both are mandatory. If you're solo, you only strictly need public liability, but most traders get employers' liability anyway.

Why does CMTIA cost so little?

They've built a direct-to-consumer model with minimal overhead. No fancy offices, no middle brokers, minimal claims. They're betting they won't get many claims from street food traders because it's statistically a low-risk activity. They're right statistically, so they price accordingly. It's a genuinely good deal if you're low-risk.

If I get injured while trading, am I covered?

No. Public liability covers other people. Employers' liability covers employees. You'd need accident insurance or personal injury protection to cover yourself, which most street food traders don't bother with because the odds are low. It's a gap in most traders' coverage, honestly.

Do I need cover if I'm only trading one event?

Yes. Buy a one-day policy if that's all you need. CMTIA does them from £27. It's cheaper than risking an event cancellation. Some events might let you trade uninsured if you sign a waiver, but you're not actually protected if something goes wrong, so don't do it.

What happens if I change my cover mid-year?

Depends on your provider. Most will adjust your premium and give you the new certificate immediately. Some require a new proposal form. NCASS and Bollington might take a few days; others do it same-day. Check with your specific provider rather than assuming. If you're upsizing cover because you've landed a bigger event, do it in advance, not on the morning of trading.

Do I need the event organiser's name on my policy?

Usually no, but check the event's specific requirements. Some corporate events or large festivals insist on being named as an interested party, which means they're added to your policy and notified if there's any change or cancellation. It's not expensive to add (maybe £10–£20), but most traders never need it.

Bottom Line

You need public liability insurance. The honest truth is that it's the only thing standing between a minor incident and genuine financial catastrophe. A customer's allergic reaction that turns serious becomes a £50,000 claim. Without insurance, you're bankrupt. With it, you're covered up to your limit.

The choice between providers comes down to three things: price, speed, and whether you want human interaction.

If you're starting out or trading occasionally, CMTIA or Simply Business give you proper cover for genuine budget pricing. You'll be insured for roughly £5–£7 a month, which is less than your first day's takings probably covers. That's a no-brainer.

If you're serious, trading regularly, or need more comprehensive cover, you're choosing between Protectivity (fastest online quotes), Mobilers or NCASS (specialist service, phone-based), or Bollington (most comprehensive). The cost difference between them is less than you'd spend on ingredients for a single event. The real decision is whether you want to sit on hold with a human or fill in an online form.

Get insured before your first pitch. Seriously. The amount of traders who've lost event deposits or been cancelled at the gate because they skipped insurance is depressing. It's not sexy, it's not exciting, and it won't make your food taste better. But it's what separates a business from someone cooking in a car park.

Start with one of the big six in this guide. Get your first certificate sorted before the season kicks off. Then scale your cover as you grow. That's genuinely how most successful traders do it.