Professional Indemnity

I want to cover legal fees and compensation costs if I lose a claim brought against me

If you’re a company, self-employed person or freelancer providing professional services, recommendations or advice, and unable to cope with the expense of defending a costly claim, professional indemnity insurance, also referred to as PI insurance, is incredibly important cover.

Compensation costs

Professional indemnity insurance is designed to protect if customers or clients claim a service is inadequate. For e.g. if your business provides professional services or consultancy work, or handles client data and intellectual property, it covers legal fees and compensation costs if you lose a claim brought against you.

Even if you believe you haven’t done anything wrong, you will still need to pay for the legal costs of defending yourself in court. So having the right cover in place is essential.

Legal proceedings

Although professional indemnity insurance isn’t a legal requirement, if someone within your organisation fails to apply due diligence, or gives damaging advice in an email, it’s easy to find yourself facing legal proceedings. Any number of human errors could leave you open to potential legal action.

So even if you are not obliged to have professional indemnity insurance, without it, you could be liable for thousands of pounds worth of legal fees and compensation payments – not to mention lost income from the time spent defending any allegation.

Regulatory requirements

Many professions are however required to have professional indemnity insurance as part of their respective industry body’s regulatory requirements.

Premiums are based on factors such as the size and type of your business and the nature of the work you do.