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Professional indemnity insurance is a form of insurance cover that protects practicing professionals from third party claims arising out of any discrepancy in rendering the required services. Reasonably, having adequate indemnity insurance is essential for every one who is engaged in the business of offering expert opinions based on specialized skills and knowledge.

Risk Profile of PI Insurance:

For providing the best insurance cover, an insurer looks into a service provider’s risk profile. Usually, insurers consider everything from types of advices, number of products sold, management or business issues that may arise during the course of providing professional services. In simple words, insurers are more likely to show concern about issues that haven’t come out so far but show significant loss in value. However, it does not mean that insurers overlook general issues where claims arise on usual basis. The decision and need of insurance cover is entirely depends on the individual circumstances and other information that a firm can provider to the insurer. Also, a firm can determine its risk exposure and contact an insurer that can fulfill the requirement. In addition, potential insurers look into the management and business factors when assessing the level of risk for the firm.

Each insurer follows different criteria for assessing risk exposure. Often, they consider following four main areas when calculating a premium:

Income of the firm

Limit of the indemnity or level of excess

Risk assessment of the business

Nature of the business activity

How to make an impressive application for getting adequate risk cover?

When applying for the desired insurance cover, a firm or professional has to prepare an impressive application highlights the strengths. Here are few points that should include in your application form:

• Clean and comprehensive information.

• Full disclosure of all possible facts

• consider risk management and risk.

Professional Indemnity insurance protects various professionals against unforeseen circumstances, such as claims made by dis-satisfied customers. Built especially for creative & media professionals, who are the softest targets of dissatisfaction, professional indemnity insurance is conveniently planned or devised to cover damages that have the potentiality of being payable. In this type of PI insurance, media & creative professionals simply need to take a policy, pay premium, and stay protected.

Nowadays, indemnity insurance for creative & media professionals is quite popular because lot is known about its advantages. Earlier this kind of indemnity insurance is used to be believed to be really expansive. Also, people believed that a lot of paper work needs to be involved too, making many creative and media professionals scared away. However, a little insight into the real aspects shows the truth. PI insurance can be easily obtained by providing information about yearly income, nature of business, nature of working. As a freelance copywriter or an interior designer, you can claim Professional Indemnity (PI) as a ‘Schedule E’ expense in addition to the usual 5% allowance, making Professional Indemnity insurance the most popular scheme for freelancer professionals.

The basic aim of taking Professional Indemnity (PI) insurance is to protect you against your legal liability for losses suffered by your customers as a result of your negligent advice. People like creative copywriter, journalists, photographers, directors, producers, editors, interior designers and others are always at the edge of risks. To cater their separate needs, interior designers insurance policies and professional indemnity for photographers are also available in the market. All you have to do is to check out your needs and requirements and match it with the available protection in the market.

Online Professional Indemnity Insurance for Creative People

Internet can be the finest source to get all the relevant information to avail the facilities of professional insurance. Whether you are a professional photographer or an interior designer, you must have the adequate insurance cover to meet out the unforeseen third party claim, which can cause you a heavy monetary loss.

If you are a creative professional, you can take the opportunity to safeguard your rights with a professional indemnity insurance policy.

We all want things to be easy – freelancers especially. The very antithesis of this noble ideal would seem to be the act of researching insurance policies. In many ways that’s true. In many other ways – such as when a freelancer falls foul of a career-crumbling lawsuit – it seems a simple enough task.

Choosing to take out professional indemnity insurance needn’t be head-scratchingly complicated – it just requires an understanding of the basics.

If a claim against them is made, professional indemnity insurance can offer freelancers protection in a variety of ways. One is if there is any negligence or breach of contract on the freelancer’s part. For example, a freelance programmer who produces poor code may ultimately be liable for his client’s IT system crashing.

Another form of protection is that for an unintentional infringement of intellectual property right which causes damage to the client. Professional indemnity insurance also covers freelancers for claims for liable or slander.

If the unfortunate programmer previously mentioned was to accidentally lose one of his client’s hard drives, this could also be brought to court. A PI insurance policy will help cover costs should a freelancer loses any data provided by the client.

As basic professional indemnity insurance just covers negligence, it is the cheapest option. More expensive policies may cover breach of duty, civil liability, and intellectual property disputes stemming from accidental infringement, and loss or damage of data or records.

As professional indemnity insurance does not offer freelancers coverage against the claims above the initial agreed amount, freelancers should make sure they are happy with the limit when they first take out the policy.

Those with an appropriate professional indemnity insurance policy automatically make their life simpler by nullifying the potentially destructive possibility of a future court case. Should a problem arise, professional indemnity insurance will cover both legal expenses and any further compensation payments owed.

Compared to the complications a lawsuit can involve, talking to an advisor about professional indemnity insurance is one of the simplest things a freelancer could ever do.

Professional Indemnity Insurance, also known as PI Insurance, came as a real boon to the professionals working across several industries. They provided enough peace of mind to the policyholder so that he or she may pursue her vocation without the fear of being sued expansively for the slightest of mistakes. Consequently, professionals soon started considering PI insurance as an integral part of their safety and security, pretty much the same way as a two-wheeler rider perceives a helmet or a car driver considers a seat belt. Soon, there were a good number of professionals queuing up outside the offices of insurance companies to get themselves under the umbrella cover of PI insurance.

In a world strictly governed by a cause and effect relationship and markets that are extremely sensitive to the vagaries of demand and supply, it resulted in the obvious situation of PI Insurance rates sky-rocketing. Be it the manufacturing sector or the service sector, each witnessed a substantial increase in the rates of PI Insurance. Insurance companies know that they are now in a demanding position and thus, they charge a reasonable premium. What more? The customers are more than willing to oblige! This resulted in a significant price increase in the renewals and the process of renewal also became a bit more complicated and lengthier.

But people, on general, are not complaining since it is a win-win situation for all the parties involved. The policyholder is assured of hassle-free work routines, the insurance companies enjoy huge customer base and high premiums and in case of any unfortunate event, the clients have a fair chance of recovering their damages.

PI Insurance rates are bound to remain sky high in the near future. As global economies grapple with economic slowdown and rising uncertainties, more and more people are going to opt for the security cover of PI Insurance.

When you are working as a freelance contractor, you must have a PI Insurance cover to meet your legal responsibilities and obligations. Nowadays, you may have noticed that your clients are insisting on proof of your PI insurance before proceeding with their contract. Whether you work from home, overseas or clients’ site, you need to insure your concern and protect yourself with professional indemnity insurance.

As a freelance contractor, you carry certain responsibilities towards your clients. Your mistakes can become a costly affair for them. Your clients have a legal remedy and can seek justice for their financial loss. An agency contract is not going to protect you in all circumstances. professional indemnity insurance provides you the freedom in your profession, regardless of whether your client’s claim is small or big.

There are a wide range of insurance products exclusively catering to the needs of freelance contractors. Without going here and there, you can get instant online insurance quotes, purchase cover and even download your policy certificate within few minutes, from the comforts of your home.

In case one of your clients suffer damage or financial loss due to an error, omission or negligent act caused by you, the PI Insurance will save you and meet your cost of litigation. Suppose you are an IT contractor and you put a bug by accident, while developing the software. This may delay the delivery and your client may claim substantial compensation from you. You can operate independently when you have the Professional indemnity insurance. You can fully defend your case opposing an IR35 verdict. Moreover, the premiums paid by you are allowable against tax.

If you are protected with a professional indemnity insurance for your freelance contract business today, you need not worry about defending the claims of the past made against you or the future damages that may arise and become payable by you. As the PI insurance adds great value to your profession, you can manage your profession in a better way than before.

Pi insurance is indeed the necessity of every professional. Professionals are always running at the risk of being blamed for negligence in delivering their job, and to be on the safer side, a professional needs to take aid of PI insurance.

What are the benefits of pi insurance?

The entire topic basically settles down to one point- why pi insurance has to be purchased in the first case? PI insurance covers a professional from the legal expenses and other related expenses incurred in case of act of errors or omission claimed by a client. This statement says it all and in fact proves to be of great help in trying times.

When a client claims an act of negligence from the professional’s side, the professional is left with no other option than to accept it or deny it! Ironically, in both the cases the professional will be liable to shell out money from his or her side- a good sum to the client (in case he or she accepts it!) or fight against the client claiming justice in court (in case he or she does not accept the blame!). So to say, the professional needs to be prepared for tough times to come out of such circumstance gracefully.

Low cost professional indemnity insurance- what and how?

There are many firms from whom pi insurance can be purchased, many of which can be easily found online. Due to this competition, there are many low cost pi insurance providers. Finding them out is not an uphill task, given in the accessibility of the internet. All you need is patience and a curious mind.

- Check out the websites of various PI insurance providers and check out the offers too.

- Needless to say, opt for the best! But, make sure there are no ‘frills attached’ to the offers.

- Do not blindly go for the low rates, but stress more on the features of the offer like the period of the cover, the premium, the interest and so on…

Professional indemnity insurance provides an umbrella against any undesirable claim for alleged negligence, error or omission that may result into financial damage to the clients. Under this policy, the insurer provides the cover for damages awarded against you and for legal defense costs. In case, a professional is trapped for wrong allegation, the insurance company ensures that a good legal expert has been hired and the professional’s side of story can be presented nicely in the court of law.

PI Insurance – What to Cover?

The insurance policy covers professionals against claims for negligence, unintentional breaches of intellectual property, loss of data or documents and claims for dishonesty. Importantly, the amount of risk is limited to the working area of the professional and policies are given as per the desires of professionals. For example, take an example of a doctor who prescribes a medicine that may not produce the desired result to a patient or may cause some other trouble to the patient. A patient has the right to sue the doctor and ask for the damages. Here, if the doctor has PI insurance he can get a cover.

Besides the above mentioned reason for providing the coverage, PI insurance covers following aspects as well:

Breach of Copyright

If a professional breaches the contract, the cover provides for the infringement of copyright/patent.

Libel & Slander

Claims made against the libel& slander can be paid too.

How to Get Online Insurance Policy?

Professional indemnity insurance has become really popular these days. Countries such as the UK has made it mandatory for professionals to get PI insurance before getting into practicing.  If you want to get a PI cover through the internet, there are some few steps that may help you to get the desired policy:

Get quotes
Apply online
Pay via credit/debit card
Download policy documents

It is important to read the documents carefully before agreeing on the details.

PI insurance is targeted towards protecting professionals. The insurance will lift your financial burden when you have to face liability claims. The indemnity saves you from legal actions that may arise due to a service or financial inconsistency of your profession. The policy minimizes or meets the losses that may arise as a result of the negligent services offered by you to your clients. The PI insurance safeguards your professional interest when your clients financially suffer losses due to alleged error or omission and negligence on your part.

In this increasingly litigious society, indemnity insurance is an essential requirement for the removal of risk factor and adequate coverage for your professional career. Even many industries make the indemnity insurance mandatory for permitting license to the professionals. When you lack an appropriate insurance cover, you are yourself putting your business into grave risk in case of any claim. Without a protective PI insurance, you may have to end up in an unpleasant situation of paying up for damages and also legal costs.

Professional indemnity is very important for the practice of a profession. When you offer advices as a part of your business, the PI insurance will cover the risks of failure, loss arising from any mistake unintentionally caused by you, error or omission. You need not worry about any mistakes committed without carelessness during the business conduct. Your PI Insurance will also protect you from unproductive negotiated financial settlement and meet the legal expenses for effectively defending the claims.

Nowadays professional services are increasingly being subjected to an environment of accountability. With greater awareness about their consequential legal rights, the third parties get motivated to bring more claims against the professional companies. The PI insurance saves the reputation and protects the companies in defending the cases even if the claims turn out to be false and frivolous.

Professional indemnity insurance supports you in paying the compensation to a third party, who may have suffered injury, loss or damage through any breach of duty, causing a quantifiable financial loss. Professional indemnity insurance, commonly known as pi insurance, is a financial instrument that indemnifies professionals against any legal liabilities, such as injury, loss or damage caused due to their professional negligence.

Broadly, there are three types of Professional indemnity insurance, namely breach of duty, civil liability, and negligent act, error or omission.

Negligent act, error or omission- is the narrowest form of cover that indemnifies the pi insurance holder against loss incurred only due to their negligent act, error or omission in carrying out the business of the policyholder. Breach of duty is a typical pi insurance that provides indemnity to the insured against the loss arising from any claim for breach of duty made to the insurers during the policy period. Civil liability is another form of Professional indemnity insurance that provides indemnity for any kind of civil liability. This includes breach of contract, libel, and slander

Professional indemnity insurance actually covers many aspects. The followings are the detailed list of the same.

Usually the duration of the policy is one year.

Premiums represent a particular part of a firm’s running costs

Professional indemnity insurance only covers the firm, not the interests of their client or any third parties.

PI insurance is written on a ‘claims made’ basis.

The policy pays only after the liability of the claimant is established.

In the event of a claim being made, the policy also covers the cost of legal defense

PI insurance saves the policyholder against any unfortunate situation of facing a legal action or claim arising out of the services he has provided as consultation. It is necessary to build up an understanding of your needs and risks before looking for professional indemnity insurance cover. Professional indemnity insurance is a powerful tool that saves you against any sort of uncertainties in your business that ends up with financial compensations. Understand your business needs and requirements and adopt Professional indemnity insurance coverage to deal with financial uncertainties.

Professional Indemnity Insurance

Professional indemnity (PI) insurance protects you against your legal liability for losses suffered by your customers as a result of your negligent advice. Professional Indemnity (PI) is legally required in certain professions, such as law, accountancy & financial services. It is common in other areas such as management and computer consultancy, publishing, engineering and design. If you give any advice which could make you liable, or if you are working in a collaborative arrangement, you should have a suitable professional indemnity policy.Your professional indemnity policy should include retroactive cover, so that you are insured for any claims arising in the next 12 months, but also for your work or decisions back to the date you commenced trading. When you complete your proposal form, you will need to disclose any likelihood of a future claim, as the underwriters will want to protect themselves from taking on any current or known claim exposure.Professional Indemnity (PI) Insurance works on a ‘claim made’ basis, and so when you cease trading, retire or take a permanent job, it is wise to purchase run off cover for at least 12 months after that in case a claim is made against you, after your policy has expired for work done previously.

Employers Liability Insurance

Professional Insurance for Employers LiabilityThe Employers Liability Act 1969 requires all employers, unless they are exempt, to have at least 5 million GBP of employers liability insurance with an approved insurer to protect them against claims from employees for accidents or sickness caused through work. In practice most insurers offer at least 10 mill GBP cover.The law was amended with effect from 28 February 2005 to exempt very small companies that employ only their owner. As a freelance consultant or contractor operating outside IR35, however, you are likely to have a substitution clause in your contracts. Without employers liability insurance, you cannot fulfill this clause without breaking the law, so in practice you ought to have cover.There are no hard and fast rules about who counts as your employee for the purposes of employers liability insurance. People who you many think of as self-employed may be considered as your employees for the purposes of employers liability insurance; what matters is the real relationship with the people who work for you and the degree of control you have over the work they do for you. Even part-time and casual staff may count as your employees.

Public Liability Insurance

Professional Insurance for Public LiabilityPublic liability insurance covers you against accidents to members of the public or damage to property that occurs as a result of your business activities. It also covers any related legal costs.Even if you work from home, you may need public liability cover. If clients visit you there, the policy will cover you if they injure themselves while they are on your premises – it could be something as silly as tripping over a computer cable. If you regularly work off-site, your policy should cover this too.Product Liability Insurance

Professional Insurance for Product LiabilityProduct liability insurance covers you against injury or damage caused by faulty goods. This can be important if you manufacture, repair, install or even retail goods; a small defect could open you up to massive claims. Your policy should guard you against safety claims, manufacturing quality, spoilage and indemnity costs.

Property & Contents Insurance

Professional Insurance for Property & ContentsYou will need to insure your business property, including premises, fixtures and fittings, stock, computers and equipment. If you work from home, you need to check that equipment used for business purposes is still covered by your home contents insurance, or purchase specific business insurance. In response to a growing trend in home working, an increasing number of insurers no offer buildings and contents policies that specifically include cover for business stock and equipment.IR35 & Legal Expenses Insurance

Professional Insurance for IR35 & Legal ExpensesIR35 Insurance pays costs to cover professional fees relating to tax investigations covering;

Income tax self assessment full enquiriesCorporation tax self assessment full and aspect enquiriesEmployer compliance disputes in respect of PAYE, P11D and NICVAT & IR35 disputes, S660A enquiries.

Income Protection Insurance

Professional Insurance for Income ProtectionIncome protection insurance schemes can be used to cover employees in the event of long-term sickness, paying their salaries during the period of incapacity. Executive income protection provides cover for both salary and dividends.

Permanent Health InsuranceProfessional Insurance for Health & MedicalAs a freelancer, you do not the safety net of a permanent employer to pay for sick leave. It is worth investigating permanent health insurance to cover your personal outgoings should you ever be unable to work for long periods, Private medical insurance can make a lot of sense. Quicker treatment times through private care can help you avoid lengthy lay-offs. Some policies pay a lump sum in the event of a critical illness. It is advisable to apply for medical insurance before you experience symptoms of a serious nature.

Other types of freelance professional insuranceBusiness interruption (or consequential loss) insurance compensates you for extra costs incurred and trading profits lost if your business suffers disruption after, say, a fire.Tax loss insurance reimburses the tax, penalty and interest losses arising from an HMRC ruling against you which results in additional tax to be paid, especially in relation to IR35.Legal expenses insurance covers legal costs such as solicitors fees and court costs. Many policies offer legal guidance via a telephone helpline.Key man insurance can make your business less vulnerable to the illness or death of key employees.

Professional Insurance TipsIt can be more cost-effective to buy employers liability, public liability and business equipment insurance as a single package.Professional indemnity insurance premiums will depend on the type of business, your turnover and the number of employees. Don’t underestimate the level of professional indemnity protection you need.Read the small print in any policy documents. Question any clauses that you don’t understand.Be scrupulously honest with your insurance company about information relating to your business and any previous claims.