What is professional indemnity insurance?
Professional indemnity insurance is a type of business insurance that covers you for costs you might face if your work, service, or advice causes a client to suffer a loss – either financial or reputational.
What does professional indemnity insurance cover?
A professional indemnity insurance policy can cover you for:
- Professional negligence: If you give incorrect advice or make a mistake
- Defamation: If you produce or support libel statements about your client
- Breach of confidence: If you share sensitive information without permission
- Breach of copyright: If you infringe on copyrights, trademarks or intellectual property
- Lost or damaged documents: If you lose or damage documents while they’re in your care
- Employee cover: If an employee commits a malicious act that causes a loss for your client
Do I 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. It’s normally suited to industries where you offer work, services or advice to other clients.
If you work in certain professions, regulatory bodies might require that your business has professional indemnity insurance, however, it isn’t strictly a legal requirement. If you’re a doctor or nurse for the NHS, your practice should provide you with professional indemnity insurance – however, it’s best to check this is the case.
People in the following occupations can benefit from professional indemnity insurance:
Consultant
Solicitor
Architect
Financial advisor
Accountant
Designer
Compare business insurance quotes from UK insurers such as:
Business insurance comparison
You can use a comparison tool to compare business insurance quotes. MoneySuperMarket has teamed up with Simply Business to help you compare personalised business quotes and make sure you’re properly covered.
You’ll need to enter details about the type of company or business you run and its history and the size of your company – including any employees you hire.
You’ll also be able to add any extra levels of cover you need such as business equipment and stock and the cover amount.
And you’ll also need to answer some questions about the nature of the work you do, and any previous claims you’ve made and the likelihood someone might make a claim to help insurers analyse the risk of you needing to claim on your business insurance.
Your business insurance quotes will then be listed by price and you’ll be able to compare based on the amount of cover you need.
How much does professional indemnity insurance cost?
Insurers will set your premiums for professional indemnity insurance based on factors such as:
- Size and type of business: Bigger businesses generally have more at stake when it comes to financial and reputational losses, so you’ll generally need higher levels of cover if your client is a big company
- Nature of the work you do: If your business faces high levels of risk, then insurers are also likely to charge more in premiums
How much professional indemnity cover do I need?
Most insurers offer between £50,000 and £5 million in terms of cover. To get a good idea of how much you’ll need, check:
- Your business contract: If your contract requires you to have professional indemnity cover it’ll usually specify the minimum amount you need
- The value of your project: Factoring in how much you’re being paid and the overall value of your work can help you judge the appropriate level of cover
- Professional or regulatory bodies: You can always ask any regulatory bodies for help and guidance
What other types of insurance can I get for my business?
You’ll also be able to add any of the following policies to your overall business insurance:
- Public liability cover: Public liability insurance covers your business for the cost of any compensation claims you might face if someone becomes ill or injured, or has their property damaged as a result of the work you do
- Employers’ liability cover: Employers’ liability insurance covers legal costs resulting from an employee becoming ill or injured, or having their property damaged as a result of your business
- Product liability cover: Product liability insurance protects you against the cost of legal fees resulting from someone becoming ill or injured, or having their property damaged by a product you sell – which you may be liable for even if you didn’t manufacture it
- Business interruption cover: Business interruption policies cover you for lost income if the running of your business is interrupted by an insured event such as a fire or flood
- Business buildings cover: Also known as business property insurance, this covers you for the cost of any damage done to your premises resulting from an insured event
- Cyber cover: Cyber insurance is a useful policy for all modern businesses, as it covers you for a range of costs that could result from a cyber-attack
How can I compare business insurance deals?
Comparing business insurance deals with MoneySuperMarket and Simply Business is the easiest way to find a cheaper quote for your company. Just give us a few details about your business and employees and we’ll show you a list of quotes tailored to your requirements.
You’ll be able to compare deals by their overall cost, the cover you’ll get and any extra policies you can add to your overall business insurance. Once you’ve found the provider and quote you want, just click through to the provider to finalise your purchase.
Get Money Calm
MoneySuperMarket gives you lots of clever ways to save a lot, by doing very little.
- Take control of your credit score by checking and improving it for free with Credit Monitor
- Never overpay again with Energy Monitor, our energy monitoring service
- Over 50 ways to Get Money Calm
So how do we make our money? In a nutshell, when you use us to buy a product, we get a reward from the company you’re buying from.
But you might have other questions. Do we provide access to all the companies operating in a given market? Do we have commercial relationships or ownership ties that might make us feature one company above another?
We commit to providing you with clear and informative answers on all points such as this, so we have gathered the relevant information on this page.