Personal Possessions Insurance

Personal possessions insurance protects your personal items if they’re stolen or lost, whether you’re at home, commuting, or travelling abroad. It’s usually added on to a home contents insurance policy, extending your protection beyond your front door.

At Lemonade, this cover is called the Theft and loss add-on and it does exactly what the name suggests.

What is personal possessions insurance?

Personal possessions insurance protects the items you own and use day to day. It covers things like laptops, mobile phones, cameras, jewellery, handbags, wallets, sports equipment, and musical instruments against theft and accidental loss.

It’s worth understanding how it fits alongside your other cover:

• Home contents insurance protects your belongings whilst they’re inside your home. If someone breaks in and steals your television or laptop, your contents insurance policy would cover that.
• Personal possessions insurance (also called personal belongings insurance) extends that protection to cover your items when you leave the house. It’s typically offered as an optional extra on top of your home contents insurance policy. Home contents insurance covers the things that stay in your home. Personal possessions cover protects the things that go everywhere with you.

So if your phone is stolen on public transport, or your camera goes missing on holiday, personal possessions cover is what you’d rely on, not your standard contents cover.

What is and isn’t covered by personal possessions insurance?

Understanding exactly what your policy covers is the most important step before committing. Here’s a clear breakdown:

What’s covered	What’s not covered
Phones	Damage caused by wear and tear
Laptops	Items left unattended in a car (unless locked away)
Tablets	Business or professional items, like work tools
Cameras	Documents other than driving licences and passports
Jewellery and watches	Pets
Bicycles	Furniture, household goods, and equipment
Keys	Food and drink
Wallets and purses	Cash (usually excluded or capped at around £500)
Designer clothes and bags	Items on public display
Musical instruments	Electrical or mechanical faults
Sports equipment
Books

A few things worth noting:

• High-value items such as jewellery, bicycles, and musical instruments may need to be listed separately if they exceed your policy’s single-item limit. To put this into context: if your policy has a single-item limit of £1,500 and your watch is worth £2,000, you’d only be able to claim up to £1,500 if it were stolen
• Accidental damage is not always included, check your policy before committing
• Family members’ belongings are usually covered if they live at the same address
• If your insurer offers separate gadget, bike, or sports equipment cover as add-ons, those items may be excluded from your personal possessions cover (check before assuming everything is included)

Does personal possessions insurance cover theft outside the home?

Yes, that’s one of its primary purposes. With personal possessions cover in place, your belongings are protected against theft whether you’re in the UK or travelling abroad.

If your phone is stolen at a festival, your laptop is taken from a café, or your camera goes missing on a business trip, a personal possessions insurance policy would cover the cost of replacement, subject to your cover limits and excess.

Without this cover, your standard contents insurance policy would not apply. It only covers theft that occurs inside your home.

What about when you’re abroad?

Most policies that include overseas cover do so for a set number of days per year, typically between 30 and 60. If you’re travelling for longer than that, you may need to look at travel insurance or a specialist policy to make sure your belongings are protected for the full duration. Always check with your insurer before you travel.

What if your belongings are temporarily not with you?

Cover typically applies to items that are with you or within your household. If your belongings are out for repair, being stored elsewhere, lent to a friend outside your household, or temporarily moved during a house move, check your policy documents to confirm whether they’re still protected.

Does personal possessions insurance cover other people’s belongings?

This depends on your policy. In many cases, a contents insurance policy automatically covers family members living at the same address, including a spouse or civil partner. However, cover limits are typically shared, so it’s important to make sure your total cover reflects the combined value of everyone’s belongings.

If you live with a partner but aren’t married or in a civil partnership, you may need to add them to your policy separately. Check your policy documents or speak to your provider to confirm who is covered.

Note that business equipment, such as laptops or devices owned by your employer, is generally not covered under personal possessions insurance.

How does personal possessions insurance compare to other types of cover?

Here’s how personal possessions insurance stacks up against your other policies at a glance.

Cover type	What it covers	Does it include personal possessions?	Worth noting
Personal possessions insurance	Theft and accidental loss of personal items, at home and abroad	Yes, this is its primary purpose	Check single-item limits and overseas day limits
Travel insurance	Medical expenses, cancellation, delays, and some personal items	Partially, usually limited in value and scope	Useful alongside personal possessions cover; check for overlap
Gadget insurance	Devices like phones and laptops, often including accidental damage	Sometimes, gadgets may be excluded from personal possessions cover if insured separately	Check whether gadgets are covered under both policies
Car insurance	Damage to or theft of your vehicle	No, personal items stolen from your car are not covered	You’ll need personal possessions cover for items stolen from your car

How much cover do you need?

Start by thinking about what you regularly carry with you – your phone, laptop, camera, jewellery, and anything else of value. Add up the replacement cost of those items and use that as your baseline.

Bear in mind:

• Single-item limits: Most policies cap payouts per item, so check this aligns with the value of your most expensive belongings
• Overall annual limits: There’s usually a cap on total claims within a policy year
• Shared cover: If family members are included on your policy, their belongings count towards the same limits

💡 Pro tip:

For high-value items like jewellery, a designer watch, or a professional camera, it’s worth listing them separately on your policy to make sure they’re fully covered. A few minutes now could save you a lot of hassle later.

How to choose the right policy

Personal possessions cover is typically available as an optional extra on a home contents insurance policy. When comparing options, look at:

• Cover limits: per item and annually
• What events are covered: theft only, or accidental loss and damage too
• Exclusions: read these carefully, particularly around specialist items like bikes and gadgets
• Excess: a higher excess usually means a lower premium, but make sure it’s affordable if you need to claim
• Whether overseas cover is included: and if so, how many days per year
• Claims process: how straightforward it is to make a claim

Check you’re not doubling up

Before taking out personal possessions insurance, it’s worth checking whether you already have some form of cover in place. Some packaged current accounts, credit cards, and travel insurance policies include personal possessions cover as a benefit. Since you can’t claim twice on the same item, there’s no point paying for cover you already have.

Getting a home insurance quote is a straightforward starting point. From there, you can review what personal possessions cover costs as an add-on and decide whether the level of protection suits your needs.

How to make a claim

If your belongings are stolen or lost, most insurers will require:

1. A police report: for theft, you’ll need a crime reference number
2. Proof of ownership: receipts, bank statements, or photographs of the item
3. Your policy documents: to confirm your level of cover
4. A clear account of what happened: including dates, times, and circumstances

Most providers settle insurance claims on a new-for-old basis, meaning you’ll receive enough to replace the item with a current equivalent rather than a depreciated value. Your excess will be deducted from the settlement amount.

Is personal possessions insurance worth it?

For most people, yes. Replacing a stolen laptop, phone, and camera out of pocket would cost significantly more than the annual premium for personal possessions cover.

It’s particularly worth considering if you:

• Regularly travel with valuable gadgets or equipment
• Commute using public transport
• Own expensive sports equipment or musical instruments
• Have children who take devices to school or university
• Travel frequently for work or leisure

The bottom line

Personal possessions insurance protects the belongings you carry with you every day against theft and accidental loss, wherever you are. Standard home contents insurance only covers you inside your home, so if you want protection on the go, you’ll need to add personal possessions cover to your policy.

At Lemonade, this is called the Theft and loss add-on. It extends your contents insurance to cover your personal items outside the home, including when you’re travelling abroad.

Before taking out cover, check what’s included, what the cover limits are, and what the exclusions are. A policy that looks affordable may have gaps that matter to you, so it’s worth reading the detail before you commit.

Personal possessions insurance FAQs