What is professional indemnity insurance?
Professional indemnity insurance is designed to cover the cost of any claims made against your company by a client for any losses they suffer because of your work or advice. It is usually included as part of your general business insurance policy.
What is covered by professional indemnity insurance?
Professional indemnity insurance can help to cover the cost of:
- Mistakes you make in your work that result in your client losing money or business
- Advice or consultation you give that results in your client losing money or business
- Losses to a third party that happen because you’ve shared confidential or sensitive information without permission
- Damage to another company’s reputation because of your work or advice
- Losses or costs to a third party that happen because you’ve incorrectly used copyright-protected material
- Losses that are caused by something you say or write about a client which then damages their reputation or business
Do you need professional indemnity insurance?
Whether or not you need professional indemnity insurance depends on the type of work you do, and the industry you’re in. You might need professional indemnity insurance if you have one of these roles:
- Consultant
- Contractor
- Freelancer
- Recruiter
- Tutor
- Personal trainer
- Private doctor – working outside the NHS
- Private nurse – working outside the NHS
If you work as a doctor or nurse for the NHS then your practice should provide you with professional indemnity insurance, but you should always make sure this is the case.
If you work in a recognised profession like architecture, accountancy, the law, or if you provide financial advice or are regulated under the law, then it will probably be compulsory for you to have professional indemnity insurance, and there may also be a minimum cover level involved.
What is the difference between professional indemnity and public liability insurance?
Professional indemnity insurance covers you for any financial or reputational losses that a business experiences because of your work, and public liability insurance covers you for any injuries or physical property damage that happens because of your work.
Comparing professional indemnity insurance quotes
If you need professional indemnity insurance to cover your business then it’s a good idea to compare the amount of cover your business insurance policy offers. MoneySuperMarket has partnered with Simply Business to help you find the right level of cover for your company. You’ll need to fill in some information on the type of business you run, how long it’s been in business, the employees you have and more to then see your quotes.
It’s a good idea to click into each provider’s policy summary to then see if they offer professional indemnity insurance, and what level of cover they provide. Helping to give you peace of mind that your business would be able to cover the cost of any claims made against your work, and that your business has the right level of cover it needs to be a part of a professional body.