Are you in the business of giving professional advice? How can you protect yourself from professional risk?
Do you offer advice for a living? Perhaps you’re a life coach or a corporate trainer and have people hanging on your every word. Or maybe you’re an engineer or an IT consultant whose advice can lead to success, or failure, on some pretty big projects. Whatever the case may be, if you share your knowledge with the world, you need to protect yourself from professional risk.
Professional indemnity insurance matters
There are hundreds of different consulting professions and each and every one of them is expected to provide a specialist service or advice. While everyone makes mistakes, if your client feels you haven’t met their expectations, or have somehow failed to deliver the service that was agreed upon, you run the risk of being sued for negligence, professional misconduct or breach of duty.
Defending against such claims takes time and money and not only will you be held responsible for your own actions, but also those of your partners, employees and volunteers. Even if you’ve outsourced work to a contractor, you may still be legally liable for any errors they make.
Ultimately, a lawsuit won’t only damage your hard-earned reputation; it could also be financially devastating to your business.
That’s why professional indemnity insurance matters. It will protect you against potential losses arising out of acts, errors and omissions from a wide variety of consultancy services and will cover your legal and defence costs, courts costs, PR costs, and any compensation awarded to your client.
Don’t lose out to a loophole
Renewing your insurance every year is also crucial. Let’s say you did some work for a client back in 2014, then out of the blue they contact you this year to claim that the work and advice you offered has caused them losses and they lodge a formal complaint.
Your professional indemnity insurance must be current on the date the work was carried out, even though it took place four years ago, as well as the date on which the claim is made. What’s more, if you sell your business or cease trading, you still need cover for up to seven years post closure.
Who needs it?
Professional indemnity insurance is mandatory in some industries, including:
· Medical practitioners
· Accountants
· Solicitors
· Financial advisers
· Insurance brokers
· People who work in media/marketing
Even when it’s not required by law, professional indemnity insurance is highly recommended for anyone who’s providing professional services or advice in exchange for a fee, such as:
· IT consultants
· Engineers
· Architects
· Graphic designers
So if your day job (or side hustle) falls under one of the above professions, do yourself a favour and talk to your Steadfast broker today. They’re here to help protect your future with the best professional indemnity policy possible. Once it’s in place, you can go confidently about your work knowing that your business is safeguarded, should ever the need arise.