Professional Indemnity Cover

Do Advisors need professional indemnity insurance?

Anyone who provides a professional service, gives advice, handles client data or business, or is responsible for intellectual property, should consider taking out professional indemnity (PI) insurance. In performing the role of professional advisor holding PI insurance often is a condition of a contract that you undertake, or of a professional body that you belong to.

The reality is that any individual providing a professional service that can be challenged is vulnerable to a claim of negligence when the advice or service fails to meet a client’s expectations. These kinds of claims can be costly and disruptive regardless of whether they’re fair or not.

The key reason for taking out professional indemnity insurance, is to provide a safety net in case you need to pay to correct a mistake, or to cover legal costs, if you make an error in your work. Certain professional bodies require you to have PI insurance in order to be a member, while in a similar vein, some clients will require contractors to hold PI insurance.

You may need professional indemnity insurance if you:

· provide expertise, skills or advice to clients;

· have access to clients' confidential information;

· produce materials that could infringe intellectual property rights; or

· provide a professional service and could be challenged on your work

In order to protect both Advisors and Business Owners every Advisor's GHM membership is conditional on having in place PI insurance cover of not less than £1m in value. Cover is available online through many sources and the cost can be surprisingly low. A leading PI insurance provider is Hiscox Group and you get get a quote online in minutes at www.hiscox.co.uk