What does Professional Indemnity Insurance cover?

Find out, in plain English, what you get with Professional Indemnity Insurance. Peace of mind never felt so good.

What does a Professional Indemnity policy cover?

Professional indemnity insurance covers the policyholder for the costs of legal action made against them in respect of financial loss which occurs due to the negligence, error, or omission in professional advice or services provided by your business.

The coverage provided by professional indemnity insurance can be understood in two categories:

 

  • Defence costs
  • Legal liability


Should a client bring legal action against your business alleging that you, or an employee acting for your business, has caused a financial loss due to error, omission, or negligence in the provision of your services the professional indemnity policy will cover the legal representation/defence costs as necessary. Should the outcome of such a legal dispute be that your business is liable, the policy will also pay the financial liability owed, up to the limit of indemnity on the policy.

Professional working at desk

What's covered?

  • Breach of professional duty
  • Libel, slander or defamation
  • Unintentional breach of confidentiality or privacy
  • Unintentional infringement of intellectual property rights
  • Breach of a contract to design or supply Deliverables or IT Service in specific circumstances


Please refer to the applicable Policy Wording for a full list of what's covered under this policy.


Work in media? Find out more about specific coverage for your media services.

Thoughtful contractor

What's not covered?

  • Claims as a result of dishonest, fraudulent, malicious or illegal acts
  • Contractual liability
  • Claims as a result of insolvency or bankruptcy
  • Deliberate acts
  • Legal action brought under the jurisdiction of the US or Canada


Please refer to the applicable Policy Wording for a full list of what's covered under this policy.

Do I need retroactive cover?

Retroactive cover refers to coverage for services undertaken previously.

Professional indemnity insurance will include an exclusion whereby any claims relating to services provided prior to the 'retroactive date' are excluded. This is important as for the majority of negligence claims it is possible for a claim to be brought against you for services provided up to 6 years ago.

Professional Indemnity insurance operates on a 'claims-made' basis which means it is the policy in force at the time the claim is made, for example when the negligence proceedings are brought against you, that will react to the matter and not the policy in force at the time of the negligent act.

Qdos Professional Indemnity policies include retroactive cover as standard for all non-IT trades. This means that your retroactive date will display as 'None', as there is no retroactive limit on your policy.

For IT trades, Qdos offer optional retroactive cover for an additional premium. Simply add 'Cover For Past Work' when building your quote. You will prompted to do so if this applies to you. You may wish to include retroactive cover if:

  • You have had a gap in your cover
  • You have changed insurance provider from another company
  • If you have not previously been insured but have provided services in the past which require cover

 

Find out more about whether you should keep your PI policy in place


How much PI cover do I need?

Professional indemnity policies can be purchased with a range of indemnity limits (limits of cover). Qdos policies are offered with indemnity limits of £1 million, £2 million and £5 million.

In order to determine the level of cover you may need, you should:

  • Check your contractual agreement where applicable for clauses which require a level of cover to be held
  • Assess the risk of your business - those providing professional advice to large clients such as high street banks or handling large amounts of data on behalf of a client, may be at risk for higher value claims
Why Qdos?
Self-employment is our everything. In fact, we’ve been specialists in the industry since 1988.

We’re business insurance and employment status enthusiasts. We get a kick out of simplifying the complex world of compliance so you don’t have to.
All of our policies include the following as standard:
A dedicated Account Manager
We'll never pass you around a call centre
 
Online account for 24/7 access
Manage your policies at a time that suits you
Free IR35 Contract Assessment
Because IR35 compliance starts with the written contract
Price Match Promise
If you find an equivalent policy elsewhere, we promise to match the price

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