Professional indemnity insurance for engineering consultants

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Two engineers discussing a project outside while wearing protecting clothing

Why do you need engineering consultant insurance?

Whether you specialise in small domestic projects, or long-term commercial contracts, your clients rely on you for expertise, skill and sound judgment built on years of experience. Professional indemnity insurance for engineers is at the heart of our policy, with space for things like public liability cover, plus protection for tools and legal expenses.

PI insurance for engineers for negligence claims against you
cover for hard-hitting claims for accidents and legal disputes
peace of mind, letting you focus on new projects, not the what-ifs

What does engineering insurance cover?

We’ll start with specific professional indemnity insurance for engineers, which can cover you against mistakes and errors in your work and business activities. From there, you can add public liability cover for injuries and property damage, plus employers’ liability insurance for your team, if you’ve hired anybody.

Professional indemnity insurance

In case you make an error while consulting, or your services don’t meet the expected standards.
Public liability insurance for engineers

In case someone is injured or their property gets damaged, because of your consulting business.
Employers’ liability insurance

In case something happens to an employee while they’re working for your consultancy business.
Tools insurance

In case your tools are lost, stolen or damaged.
Business and office equipment insurance

In case something happens to the equipment you use to run your business, like your laptop.
Legal expenses insurance

In case your consultancy business runs into a legal issue.
Personal accident insurance

In case you or anyone you’ve covered has an accident, at work or elsewhere.

Professional indemnity insurance

In case you make an error while consulting, or your services don’t meet the expected standards.

What’s typically covered by professional indemnity insurance for engineers?

Claims against your business for:
- professional negligence or breach of contract, causing your client to suffer a financial loss, such as:
- advice you’ve given which turns out to be incorrect
- other errors in your engineering which end up costing your client money
For example:
- you make an incorrect measurement so the wrong-sized steel beam arrives on site, delaying the project
- after making a miscalculation, you’re sued by your client for problems with their heating system
Read more about professional indemnity insurance
Public liability insurance for engineers

In case someone is injured or their property gets damaged, because of your consulting business.

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:
- damage to someone’s property, because of your work
- an injury caused by your business activities
- accidental damage or injury caused by your employees
If you do employ anyone, you’re usually required by law to have employers’ liability insurance too.

For example:
- you accidentally place your toolbox on a glass pane that’s awaiting installation, causing it to crack
- you’ve removed a manhole cover and need to fetch a tool from your van – while you’re gone, a passer-by trips over the manhole, breaking their ankle
Read more about public liability insurance
Employers’ liability insurance

In case something happens to an employee while they’re working for your consultancy business.

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:
- an employee, including a temp or casual worker, suing you after falling ill because of working for you, or
- making a claim for an injury they’ve suffered through working for you
**Employers’ liability insurance is required by law if you have people working for you. Without it, you could be fined up to £2,500 a day for each employee.**

For example:
- you haven’t provided the right safety equipment for your employee, and they injure their hand while on a client’s premises
- your employee is joining you on site and trips on a hidden pothole, breaking their knee
Tools insurance

In case your tools are lost, stolen or damaged.

What’s typically covered by tools insurance?
- loss, damage or theft of your engineering tools and equipment
For example:
- your measuring equipment gets damaged while on site, and needs replacing
- a fire at your place of work destroys your toolbox and its entire contents
Read more about tools insurance
Business and office equipment insurance

In case something happens to the equipment you use to run your business, like your laptop.

What’s typically covered by business and office equipment insurance?
- theft of the equipment you use to run your business, while at work or out and about
- accidental loss, flood, fire or damage to your equipment
For example:
- your laptop is stolen from your home office while you’re loading your car, and you need it to access CAD software, as well as client files
- while presenting to a client, you drop your tablet on a concrete floor, cracking the screen
Read more about business and office equipment insurance
Legal expenses insurance

In case your consultancy business runs into a legal issue.

What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?
- legal expenses resulting from your day-to-day consultancy activities, like an employee dispute
- the cost of making or receiving legal claims relating to property damage, nuisance or trespass
- HMRC investigations, or tax and compliance disputes
- includes a tax advice helpline, a 24/7 confidential legal helpline and crisis support to help you protect your reputation as a trusted consultant
For example:
- a temp you’ve hired is injured at work, and brings a claim against you
- your site is vandalised and you need to bring a claim against the vandals
Read more about legal expenses insurance
Personal accident insurance

In case you or anyone you’ve covered has an accident, at work or elsewhere.

What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?
- injury or death outside of work, for anyone covered by the policy
- lost income, medical costs and hospitalisation benefit
For example:
- you lose a finger while working on site
- your casual labourer breaks their leg while playing football
Read more about personal accident insurance

This content has been created for general information purposes. Make sure you have the right level of business insurance by checking your policy documentation for details. Read our full Terms and Conditions

How much does engineering consultants insurance cost?

Find out how much you’ll pay by comparing prices from a range of trusted insurers. You choose what goes into your policy, so you only pay for what you need.

Prices start from £4.74 per month

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The price is for up to £2 million of public liability insurance – 10% of customers paid £56.82 or less annually between 1st Jan – 31st May 2024. Equivalent to £4.74 a month (and excludes the extra costs for paying monthly). 76% of customers have a £1 million limit and 24% £2 million. If you complete a quote, more types of cover will be available. These all have additional costs.

Example engineering consultant quotes, real prices

£31.47 /month

£279.75 /year

A self-employed engineering consultant working with small projects and machine testing

2-3 years’ experience
Sole trader
No employees
Based in Plymouth

Public liability

£Not included

Employers’ liability

£Not included

Professional indemnity

£100,000

£90.05 /month

£800.46 /year

A small engineering consultant business specialising in building and testing structures and machines

5+ years’ experience
Limited company
2 employees
Based in Watford

Public liability

£2,000,000

Employers’ liability

£10,000,000

Professional indemnity

£500,000

How we work out example quotes These examples are real quotes from our online system (created 20/01/2021). They’re based on a range of factors, like employees and location. Your own quote will be based on what you tell us about your business. Prices may go up or down from day to day, so the prices you’re quoted may differ to the ones you see here.

What kind of excess should I expect?

An excess is an amount you pay towards any claim you make on your insurance. For example, if your excess is £250 and you make a claim worth £1000, your payout will be a maximum of £750.

Insurance cover	Lowest excess	Highest excess
Professional indemnity	No excess	£2500
Public liability	£200	£750
Employers liability	No excess	No excess
Tools	£60	£500
Business and office equipment	£50	£750

The figures above are for guidance only and any excess applying to your quote may differ. You’ll get a breakdown of the excesses for each quote when you compare with us.

How it works

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How do I choose insurance?

Making sure you have the right type and level of business insurance can be the difference between getting a claim paid and having to cover the cost of an expensive accident yourself. Read our tips for guidance on what to consider when buying a policy.

Can I just cover my most expensive tools?
Which type of workers do I need insurance for?
Will tools insurance cover all my equipment?
Does engineering consultant insurance cover my work correctly?
Do I need cover for other types of work?
Which public liability cover limit should I choose?

Can I just cover my most expensive tools?

Make sure you cover the total cost of replacing all your tools or you’ll only get a proportion of your claim paid out if something happens to them. Learn about tool cover.
Which type of workers do I need insurance for?

Employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement if you employ people.

If you have people working for you, including bona fide subcontractors (BFSC), labour-only subcontractors (LOSC), part-timers, or full-time staff, employers’ liability insurance is required by law.

Read on for our simplified guide to the difference between labour-only subcontractors and bona fide subcontractors.
Will tools insurance cover all my equipment?

Depending on what you use to do your work, you may need other covers.

You may need more than tools insurance – for example, business equipment insurance if you have a work laptop, plant insurance if you use machinery.
Does engineering consultant insurance cover my work correctly?

Make sure you’re picking the right cover to protect you properly. It’s important to know that if you have another trade or job, you’ll need additional cover. For example, do you need to consider electrical engineer insurance or mechanical engineering insurance?
Do I need cover for other types of work?

If you provide other services, make sure you’re covered:
Other types of insurance
Which public liability cover limit should I choose?

Think about the maximum possible loss your business could face in the event of a claim, and make sure you take legal fees and damages into consideration. You can choose from three levels of coverage – £1 million, £2 million, or up to £5 million.

Talk to an expert

Our team of UK-based insurance experts are here to help, Mon 09.00am – 05.30pm, Tues 09.00am – 05.30pm, Weds 09.00am – 05.30pm, Thurs 09.30am – 05.30pm, Fri 09.00am – 05.30pm, Sat 09.00am – 02.00pm

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0333 043 8527

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FAQs

Find answers to common insurance questions

How do claims work?

Unlike price comparison websites, we take the hassle out of claims for you. We know how important it is to get your business back on track quickly – and with a minimum of fuss. That’s why you get access to your dedicated claims any time, day or night. Call them on 0333 207 0560 or claim online. They’ll do their best to be fair and supportive.

£51 million in claims paid out in 2023

83% of claims were settled in 2023.

The figure above is rounded across our range of products. “Settled” covers paid, declined or withdrawn. Our claims process may vary for different products and operates on a ‘claim by claim’ basis. Our specialist partner Sedgwick will pay the claims on behalf of the insurer. Reviewed on 24/04/2024.

Engineering consultant insurance FAQs

Whether you’re new to buying business insurance or you’ve been trading for a while, here are the answers to some commonly asked questions about engineers’ professional indemnity insurance, plus other popular covers. You can also check out our business insurance FAQs.

Professional indemnity insurance is an important type of protection for many businesses, especially those giving advice or providing a professional service. It’s designed to cover claims for mistakes that have led to a financial loss.

You can find lots more information on professional indemnity insurance for engineering consultants in our PI FAQs.

Yes. You may start offering additional services that require you to use different skills or carry out different tasks. If you find yourself in this situation, it’s important to give us a call on 0333 043 8527 to update your policy before you take on this new work. If you don’t have the correct type of cover in place for the work you do, you may be unable to claim on your policy if something goes wrong.

If you change your business legal structure from sole trader to limited company mid-way through your policy, give us a call straight away on 0333 043 8527. It’ll only take us a few minutes to cancel your existing policy and replace it with one that correctly covers your new legal structure. It’s worth bearing in mind that your insurer and premium amount may need to change.

This will depend on whether you have employers’ liability insurance in place. Public liability insurance is designed to protect your business against the consequences of legal action brought by members of the public for injuries or damage to their belongings. But when it comes to your employees causing injury or damage, this protection only activates if you also have employers’ liability insurance.

If you employ people, you’re required by law to have employers’ liability insurance.

There’s one exception here. Family businesses that aren’t incorporated as a limited company are not legally required to have employers’ liability insurance. The government defines a “family business” as one where all your employees are closely related to you (as a spouse, civil partner, sibling, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, step-parent, stepchild or half-sibling). So if you run an unincorporated family business and you choose not to get employers’ liability insurance, it’s important to know that your public liability insurance wouldn’t cover you against damage or injury caused by your team.

We create this content for general information purposes and it should not be taken as advice. Always check policy documentation for details and seek professional advice. Read our full Terms and Conditions

Professional indemnity insurance for engineering consultants

Why do you need engineering consultant insurance?

What does engineering insurance cover?