In this blog we look at business insurance cover and focus on Professional Indemnity Insurance.
When you run or set up your own business, you must be prepared to live by your wits, expertise, experience and professional integrity. This can be liberating and nothing beats being your own boss! We found business owners were not sure about what insurance can do for them and so you can read more about types of cover for your business. But, here we focus on Professional Indemnity Insurance.
As a business owner or sole-trader, if anything goes wrong with your work you are in the firing line. Common risks are a mistake, bad luck or, a customer who just can’t be satisfied. The result nowadays is often a compensation claim, a huge headache and potentially an expense you hadn’t expected. The financial impact on your business may not be handled within your cash flow. Businesses can get financial protection from insurance and, as you appreciate, different polices cover different types of businesses.
About Public Liability and Professional Indemnity cover.
Public Liability is the right policy for the people who work on physical things; decorators, electrician, shop keepers. These are activities where a mistake will result in something being damaged and the losses that come from putting things right.
On the other hand, Public Liability cover is not the right policy if you work on or with intangible assets or information:
- Give professional advice as a consultant;
- Provide financial products or advice;
- Offer professional services – including in the health sector;
- Deliver design services;
- Handle confidential information;
- Use copyrighted material or intellectual property belonging to others.
Do any of the above apply to you? Professional Indemnity “PI” cover as either standalone or in a package with Public Liability and other cover is the answer. One additional cover might be Employer Liability cover for full, part-time or even volunteers (read more about employment cover).
Do I need Professional Indemnity Cover?
Even if you are not required by a professional standards body to have PI cover, most commercial and many individual customers will ask you for evidence that you have a minimum level of insurance.
Professional Indemnity Insurance will cover you for:
- Failure to perform the service;
- Financial loss caused by:
- negligence in providing advice or the service;
- a product or service;
- errors, omissions or negligent acts in providing the service or advice;
- Inaccurate, sub-standard, mistaken advice;
- Disclosure of confidential information and sometimes Cyber or GDPR risks.
If you are a specialist, you may have risks that are more complex and require specialised types of PI. For example, if you work in Health Care. You probably need to have a look at our Medical Malpractice cover for health care personnel.
Services Family Insurance can help?
We have partnered up with a leading specialist to give you access to easy straightforward and fair quotes with no fuss and the minimum of jargon. Get a quote now and see how your current cover and premium compares or just find out more about PI.