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Compare professional indemnity quotes from UK providers

PI cover can pay a client’s compensation claim, and your legal costs, if they say your mistake or negligence cost them money. Business.gov.uk lists it as protection against claims that your work or services caused a client a financial loss.

On Quotezone, one short form puts you in touch with providers on our panel.

Professional indemnity insurance provides protection to businesses and consultants who provide advice to other businesses, for example architects, journalists, IT consultants, financial advisors and engineers.

What is professional indemnity insurance?

Professional indemnity Insurance covers you if you are negligent or make a mistake which causes a client’s business to suffer financial loss.

Some of the areas which can lead to legal proceedings are:

• Intellectual property: unintentionally infringing on copyrights, trademarks, broadcasting rights, any act of passing off
• Negligence: or breach of duty of care
• Dishonesty: some policies cover a client’s loss caused by a dishonest employee (check your policy wording)
• Loss of data: damaged, stolen or lost data/documents belonging to your clients

What PI covers, and what it usually does not

The FCA describes PI as cover for when a third party claims a loss, usually because of professional negligence (FCA).

Wordings differ, but a policy usually leaves out:

• injury to visitors or damage to their property, a public liability risk (business.gov.uk)
• injury or illness among your own staff, which employers’ liability covers (GOV.UK)
• claims first made before the policy started (RICS)
• deliberate wrongdoing, or work you didn’t declare
• attacks on your own computer systems, which cyber insurance may cover

Professional indemnity insurance comparison

With the blame and claim culture that we sometimes live in today, businesses are at risk of being sued for services that they are employed to do. If you are a business who gives advice to clients, it may be a good idea to have financial support and flexible policies which are tailor-made for your specific profession.

Quotezone could help you find professional indemnity insurance with less hassle by getting our panel of UK insurance providers to contact you to discuss their best available policies. People have used Quotezone to get insurance quotes since 2005, so join them and see if you could save on your PI cover.

Compare professional indemnity insurance quotes and start saving today!

Professional indemnity insurance guide

If a person provides any form of service or advice to clients, they should seriously consider buying professional indemnity insurance. This is a form of insurance that could cover someone for any mistakes or errors they might make when providing their services. The consequences of such errors might be significant, especially financially. That’s why this cover is more than likely to be highly recommended for those who provide services or advice to others.

Why is it so important?

If someone makes a mistake and provides a client with wrong information, or fails to research the service they are providing in the proper manner, a client could decide to make a claim. This could be even more likely if someone provided information that loses the client money in some way.

In this situation, someone could need legal cover to be able to defend themselves. Thus, if the claim is found to be unwarranted, there may still be legal costs to cover. If the claim is successful, there could be a bill for legal costs as well as the chance of having to pay compensation for the error. All of this could potentially add up to thousands of pounds, a bill a person could have to pay if they did not have PI cover.

How common are claims of this nature?

Claims may not be frequent, but the consequences of a claim could be severe. Someone may potentially lose their business, their livelihood and their home through footing the bill for such a case.

That’s why many professionals compare professional indemnity insurance policies, to make sure they have the level of cover required. This could be done online, with comparison sites such as Quotezone. Quotes may vary wildly in this area, which makes it all the more important to compare those given by different specialist providers.

Who should buy professional indemnity insurance?

If someone is a professional providing some kind of service or advice, they might want to consider getting a policy of this kind. Some professions require those in their field to be members of a particular body or association. In these instances, the body or association may make this form of cover a prerequisite to accepting that person for membership.

However, there are many professions where this is not the case. For example, writers often work as freelancers and take on their own clients. Computer experts and IT professionals may set up their own businesses and offer their services to a wide range of clients. There are consultants of all kinds in a wide variety of businesses, offering advice on marketing, recruitment and more. Accounting is another area where professional advice and services are usually given to clients. There are many other business areas where consultants, advisers and other business people could benefit from having this level of cover.

PI cover by profession

Any business selling its skills or knowledge can face a claim that its work cost a client money. For example:

• Consultants and freelancers: a client acts on a report that turns out to be wrong.
• IT contractors: a system you set up fails and the client loses trade.
• Accountants and bookkeepers: a filing error leaves a client with a penalty.
• Architects, engineers and surveyors: a design or survey misses a costly fault. Building firms can also compare PI built around construction work.
• Counsellors and therapists: a client complains about the guidance you gave.
• Creative and media: work you made for a client breaches someone else’s copyright.
• Chefs: private and freelance chefs can see our chef insurance page.

When PI is required: regulators and contracts

Most businesses can choose, but some UK regulators make PI a condition of practising:

• Solicitors: SRA-authorised firms need qualifying insurance of at least £3 million per claim for recognised and licensed bodies, or £2 million for other firms (SRA).
• Accountants: PI is compulsory for ICAEW members with a practising certificate in public practice (ICAEW).
• Surveyors: RICS-regulated firms need adequate and appropriate cover (RICS), with a minimum limit of £250,000 to £1 million depending on turnover (RICS requirements, version 11).
• Architects: ARB expects architects in practice to hold adequate insurance, usually PI, under Standard 4 of its Code (ARB).
• HCPC-registered health professionals: registration requires an indemnity arrangement, and the self-employed must arrange their own (HCPC).
• Nurses and midwives: practising without an indemnity arrangement breaks the law, says the NMC.
• Dental professionals: cover is required by law before you practise (GDC).
• Financial firms: the FCA requires certain firms, including some insurance and home finance intermediaries, to hold PI (FCA).

A client contract can also set a minimum limit, so check yours before you choose.

Dental indemnity and dental nurse cover

Dental professionals are required by law to have appropriate indemnity or insurance before they practise, and declare it when they register (GDC).

Dental nurses can rely on an employer’s policy, but must have or be able to access its details and check it covers all their work (GDC).

Employers’ liability isn’t a substitute, as it covers staff injuries rather than patient claims (GDC). A policy of your own can also help with legal costs at a fitness to practise hearing.

What is an any one claim policy?

Every PI policy will typically have a claims limit attached to it. The premium that is paid could usually depend on how high this limit is.

However, there tends to be two types of policy to choose from. The any one claim policy means there is a limit that applies to every claim made. If the limit is £200,000, for example, and someone makes two separate claims for £175,000 each, these could both be covered.

What is an aggregate policy?

If someone has insurance for their business with an aggregate claim limit, this limit will typically be the maximum for all claims made under that policy. So for example, they may have a £200,000 limit the same as in the example given above. However, for two claims of £175,000 each, only the first would be fully covered.

The importance of making sure cover doesn’t run out

Here’s an example that should illustrate why continuous cover is so important. Let’s suppose a person has provided consultancy services since 2012. They set up professional indemnity cover when they started, but there was a short lapse during 2013 when they took three months off work, just as that year’s policy was ending. When they returned, they set up a new policy and have continued with it since then.

However, while they are off during that three-month period, a client makes a claim against them for work they did before they cancelled the insurance. Unfortunately, since they’re not covered at the point when the claim is made, the insurance they had when they did the work is probably not valid to cover them.

An example like this could highlight how important it could be to ensure an individual always has appropriate cover even if taking a break from business. Someone could search for cheap professional indemnity insurance that will meet their needs. However, they might prefer to renew it in plenty of time to provide continuous cover.

How much cover you need

Your limit is usually set by a regulator, a client contract or the size of the jobs you take on.

“A sensible starting point is the highest limit a regulator or client contract asks for. If one mistake on your biggest job could cost more than that, it may be worth pricing a higher limit too,” says Lee Evans, Quotezone’s Business & Leisure Insurance Expert.

The excess is the share of each claim you pay yourself. RICS caps it for surveying firms at 2.5% of the sum insured or £10,000, whichever is greater, for limits up to £10 million (RICS).

PI is usually sold on a claims-made basis: the policy in force when a claim is first made pays, subject to any retroactive date (RICS). That’s why the gap in the example above mattered.

How much professional indemnity cover costs

There is no standard price for PI cover, because it depends on your own risk. The FCA says insurers often look at income, the limit and excess, the risk profile and the nature of the firm (FCA).

Insurance Premium Tax is charged on premiums at 12%, the standard rate from 1 June 2017 (HMRC). Check each quote includes it.

Monthly instalments can carry interest or a fee, so compare their total with the annual price.

If you’re self-employed, the premium can be an allowable expense that lowers your taxable profit (GOV.UK).

Illustrative example: two consultants

Illustrative example, not real quotes. A marketing consultant and a structural engineer ask for the same limit.

An error in the engineer’s calculations could mean costly building repairs, so insurers are likely to see more risk and charge more.

Compare different cover provided by specialist providers

A good level of cover could give someone peace of mind with insurance like this. However, nobody wants to pay more than is necessary. With professional indemnity insurance, cheap quotes could be possible if searching among specialist insurers for them. Quotezone.co.uk can access a variety of specialists in this field, and could make an online search easy and straightforward as well.

Professional indemnity insurance is not a legal requirement for most businesses. Some regulators make it a condition of practice, though, for example for solicitors, RICS-regulated surveyors, ICAEW accountants in public practice, nurses, health professionals and dental professionals. Clients can also ask for it in a contract. Not having it could be taking a great risk.

Finally, run-off insurance protects you against claims made after you stop trading, for work you did before. Some regulators set a minimum, for example six years under the SRA minimum terms and RICS run-off rules.

How to compare PI quotes on Quotezone

Have these ready for the form:

• your profession and turnover
• the limit you want, and any minimum a contract sets
• recent claims or complaints
• your retroactive date, if you’re renewing

Step 1. Fill in your business details and the limit you want.

Step 2. Providers from Quotezone’s panel may then contact you with quotes.

Step 3. Weigh up the limit, excess, retroactive date and exclusions alongside the price.

Ways to keep the price down

• set your limit by what regulators and contracts require, not far above it
• agree a higher excess, but only one you could cover from your own funds
• describe your work accurately
• renew on time, as a gap can leave past work uncovered

Need several covers? Our business insurance page compares wider packages.

Get PI quotes for your business

PI, public liability, employers’ liability and D&O

PI covers claims that your work left a client with a financial loss (business.gov.uk).

Public liability covers injury and property damage claims from the public, so compare public liability quotes if you meet clients face to face.

Employers’ liability is usually a legal requirement once you take on staff, and the minimum cover is £5 million (GOV.UK). Compare employers’ liability cover.

D&O is designed to protect directors personally over decisions they make running a company. See directors and officers insurance.

You might also need

Public liability covers injury and damage claims from clients and visitors, and cyber cover can help if your systems are attacked.