Professional indemnity insurance Professional indemnity insurance

Personalised indemnity insurance that covers the consequences of mistakes in your work. Pick the insurance limits you want and tweak your policy at any time with no extra fees.

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Professional indemnity insurance quote

From£
9.08
per month

Why choose Superscript?

Professional indemnity (PI) insurance, also known as errors and omissions insurance, protects your business from a range of exposures. This includes mistakes in your service provided, compensation claims, contract disputes and intellectual property disputes.

20% of Superscript customers paid £9.08 a month or less for their professional indemnity cover between January and March 2023.

You can also enjoy our 5-star rated customer service and claims support if you need it.

We cover:

  • Professional negligence
  • Legal costs
  • Copyright infringement
  • Defamation
  • Unpaid client fees
  • Reputational damage

Be quote confident

We're big on fairness. So if you find a lower price for a comparable quote, we won't just match it – we'll go one better and beat it.

So even better than apples to apples, apples to better apples. We're talking Galas to Braeburns.

As you'd expect, T&Cs apply.

What our professional indemnity insurance covers

1

Payment of your fees

Where possible we want to avoid a claim as much as you do, so if it should arise, we can help settle a dispute between your company and your client regarding unpaid fees. We will pay the fees owed to you if a client refuses to pay and threatens to make a claim.

2

Reputation and brand protection costs

Our professional indemnity cover will pay for public relations and crisis management costs (including purchasing media space, printing and postage costs etc.) to protect your brand’s reputation in the event of a covered claim.

3

Intellectual property infringement

Accidental breaches of copyright are becoming more common for fast-growing companies in a saturated digital landscape. We pay up to £25,000 in legal costs to defend your business against others should it happen to you.

4

Professional credibility

Having professional indemnity cover means that your clients can maintain complete trust in your professional services, knowing that both parties are financially covered if an issue arises.

Once you've completed a quote, you'll be able to view a summary of cover. Please always refer to your policy documents for full details around exclusions, terms and limits of your customised cover. Read our guide to understanding your policy documents.

A quick guide to professional indemnity

What is professional indemnity insurance?

Professional indemnity insurance, also known as professional liability or errors and omissions insurance, covers you for claims where clients have lost money due to mistakes in your professional services.

Professional services include any designs, advice, or consultations you carry out for a client. It also covers contract, IP and trademark disputes. Should a third party make a claim against you, a PI policy will cover your legal costs and expenses to defend you as well as compensation awards if the claim is successful.

Who needs professional indemnity cover?

All businesses that enter into contracts with other businesses or third parties should consider professional indemnity insurance. This includes freelancers, contractors or any size of business that provides advice, consultancy or design services.

Whilst not a legal requirement, having PI insurance in place may also help you win more business as it’s often requested by clients before entering a contract. Professional indemnity is also a requirement if you work in specific industries.

What risks does professional indemnity cover you for?

PI covers you if a third party sues you in relation to advice, consultancy or a professional service that you provided to them that resulted in financial damages. Our professional indemnity covers:

  • Libel
  • Copyright/trademark infringement
  • Design flaws
  • Erroneous advice
  • Defamation
  • Plagiarism
  • Wrong allegations
  • Negligent content
  • Product disparagement
  • Financial loss from a client's business downtime

Steps you can take to protect yourself

Firstly, it is important to read through your contracts for your client work carefully, so both parties are clear on their professional duty, the scope of the work agreed, and what you can and can't be held liable for.

You should also make sure that other parties you are contracting with have professional indemnity insurance, such as contractors and suppliers. Be sure to check out the limitation of liability and indemnification sections in contracts you sign to know what limits of insurance you need to maintain.

What to look for when purchasing your cover

It’s wise to consider the financial impact should something go wrong when choosing your limit of cover. Clients may request a limit, but legal action costs and the chance of multiple claims at once need to be taken into account.

You should also maintain professional indemnity cover even after your contracts have ended, to make sure you are still covered if a claim arises after you provided the work. You should also declare any changes your business is making to your insurer to avoid oversights.

Professional indemnity claims

There are various different types of professional indemnity claims that can affect different industries, here are a few examples of claims where the business could be liable:

As a graphic designer, you incorporate a design element which another artist claims is a copy of their work and they sue you.

Flawed reporting

A surveyor produces a flawed report for a property developer and is sued for the costs of rectifying the architectural drawings and the delay in construction.

Breach of confidentiality

A consultant accidentally passes on unencrypted confidential information from a client and the client’s financial records are compromised or exposed.

Loss of data

An IT consultant fails to properly back up important information resulting in an irretrievable loss of the client’s data, damaging the company.

What's not covered?

Most professional indemnity insurance policies won’t cover you:

  • if you don't tell us if your circumstances change
  • for any claims against you that you knew about before your policy started
  • if you infringe any patents or steal, sell or pass on any trade secrets (though copyright and trademark infringement is included)
  • for any claim that involves your handling of personally identifiable information — we may be able to offer this cover under cyber insurance
  • for accidental bodily injury or property damage — we may be able cover this under public liability insurance

This is not an extensive list — please always refer to your policy documents for full details on exclusions, terms and limits of your customised cover. Read our guide to understanding your policy documents.

Jargon got you stumped? Take a look at our business insurance jargon buster.

Professional indemnity insurance FAQs

What is professional indemnity insurance?

Professional indemnity insurance is a type of business insurance that provides cover for legal and compensation costs associated with a business's failure to meet contractual obligations with client(s).

What does professional indemnity insurance cover?

Professional indemnity insurance covers compensation and legal costs that arise from claims concerning a business' contracts with clients.

For example, a claim made against the business by a client, due to financial losses caused by the business' failure to fulfil a contract in time; or due to mistakes made while carrying out the work.

Is professional indemnity the same as errors and omissions insurance?

Professional indemnity and omissions insurance are different names for the same type of insurance. Both cover compensation and legal costs that arise from claims concerning a business' contracts with clients.

Errors and omissions insurance is a term that's more widely used in the US, while professional indemnity insurance is more common in the UK. Errors and omissions insurance covers the same things as professional indemnity insurance, and you'll often see 'errors' and 'omissions' referenced in your professional indemnity policy.

Who needs professional indemnity insurance?

All businesses that enter into contracts with other businesses or third parties in general should consider professional indemnity insurance. While it's not a legal obligation, clients will often require it to enter into business and for professional and trade bodies, it's sometimes an eligibility requirement for membership.

How much professional indemnity insurance do I need?

The level of professional indemnity cover you need will depend on the details of contracts your businesses enters into.

What is the difference between professional indemnity and public liability insurance?

The difference between professional indemnity insurance and public liability insurance is that professional indemnity insurance is relevant to claims concerning your contracts (e.g. mistakes or negligence) and public liability insurance concerns claims against you by members of the public, for injury or property damage due to your work.

Is professional indemnity insurance required by law?

Professional indemnity insurance is not a legal requirement for businesses in the UK. However, it is sometimes a requirement of clients or of professional membership or trade bodies.

Is professional indemnity insurance tax deductible?

Yes. Professional indemnity insurance is an 'allowable expense', which means that it is tax deductible in the UK.

What to look for in a professional indemnity policy

What you need from your professional indemnity policy will depend on the type of business you run. Professional consultants may have to make use of their professional indemnity insurance for providing misleading or negligent advice. Similarly, media companies that publish large amounts of content will be covered for copyright infringement and any issues surrounding defamation due to untrue claims being published.

Learn more about professional indemnity

Our insurance guides answer more of your questions about the ins and outs of professional indemnity.

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