Professional indemnity insurance

Compare professional indemnity insurance quotes

Everybody makes mistakes, but unfortunately even small errors can lead to big claims. Professional indemnity insurance – or PI insurance – is there to protect you if your client loses out financially because of your work.

At Simply Business we offer between £50,000 and £5 million in professional indemnity cover. Compare professional indemnity insurance quotes from our panel of top UK insurers and find the policy that best suits your needs.

Cover from £4.92 a month, get insured in minutes. (10% of direct debit customers repay their annual policy in 10 monthly payments of £4.92 or less across all our trades insured. Based on data from 1 July - 31 December 2020, for comparison only. Cancellation charges may apply, please refer to our full terms & conditions.)

What is professional indemnity insurance?

Professional indemnity insurance is an important type of business insurance if you give advice, provide a professional service to clients, or handle other people's data or intellectual property. It's for situations where a client loses money because you provide negligent advice, services or designs.

Find more information on our professional indemnity insurance FAQ page.

What does professional indemnity insurance cover?

Professional indemnity insurance covers legal fees and compensation payments if a client loses out financially or professionally because of your work.

Examples of situations when professional indemnity insurance can cover you include:

• if you make a mistake in your work or providing bad advice
• if you use copyright protected content without permission
• if you share confidential or sensitive information without consent
• if you lose a client's documents or data
• if you publish a false statement that damages a person's or company's reputation

Read more about what professional indemnity insurance covers.

What type of businesses does professional indemnity insurance cover?

At Simply Business we insure all kinds of trades, from builders to hairdressers. Read more about the tailored small business policies we provide for professions like:

• photographers
• contractors
• massage therapists
• Online retailer insurance
• hair and beauty professionals
• tradespeople
• electricians

Do something different to the professions listed above? When you run a quote you can select your trade from over 1,000 options.

Can I see some real examples of professional indemnity insurance claims?

We've picked out some anonymous case examples where having professional indemnity insurance through Simply Business has saved customers tens of thousands of pounds. Can you afford not to get covered?

Professional indemnity insurance saved him more than £37,000

The local council hired a mail company to print and send leaflets to tell the local community about a change in bin collection days. There were several different versions of the leaflet with different collection days for different streets.

The mail company owner mixed up the lists so people in the community were told the wrong bin collection days. This meant the refuse collectors were going to areas where people hadn't put their bins out for collection. The council had a huge – and costly – backlog of waste to re-organise.

Claim settlement: £37,868

What the business owner had to pay: £250 excess

Professional indemnity insurance saved him more than £41,000

A business owner was working on a new building site alongside the construction team and design engineers. He was responsible for leveling and surveying the site.

He made a mistake when measuring the referenced elevation point, which ended up being out by 260mm. By the time the mistake was noticed the cost to put it right had run very high.

Claim settlement: £42,000

What the business owner had to pay: £250 excess

Professional indemnity insurance saved them more than £9,500

Alan and Dan (not their real names) produced a series of design drawings for their client. Dan made some mistakes in the drawings, which meant that some of the designs had to be cancelled. This resulted in extra costs to their business. Luckily, they had professional indemnity insurance to cover the costs.

Claim settlement: £9,750

What the business owner had to pay: £100 excess

Do I need professional indemnity insurance?

Professional indemnity insurance can be an important cover for a range of businesses, from accountants and architects to surveyors and consultants.

Even if you’ve done nothing wrong, the cost of defending yourself against claims for negligence or mistakes that leave your client out of pocket can be very high.

You might need professional indemnity insurance if you:

• provide a service
• give advice
• handle sensitive data

Read more to help you decide whether you need professional indemnity cover.

What should I consider before I buy professional indemnity insurance?

It's important to give accurate information when building your quote to make sure you're getting the right cover for your business. Here are some of the questions you'll be asked when you buy insurance:

• are you a sole trader or limited company?
• does your business deal with members of the public?
• do you work with clients or customers?
• do you handle data or intellectual property?

If you're not sure about the details you need to give, you can always call us on 0333 014 6683 and someone from our UK-based team of experts will help you with your quote.

How much professional indemnity insurance do I need?

You'll need to think about the type of projects you work on, and whether your clients, regulator or professional body ask you to have a minimum level of cover. You can usually choose between £50,000 and £5 million of professional indemnity insurance.

Your clients may tell you the cover amount they need you to have in place. If they don’t, it’s always worth checking before you take on the work.

If you need to change your cover level, it's important to let us know. Underestimating the cover you need can lead to your claim not being paid.

When you take out your professional indemnity cover, make sure you check any exclusions on your policy, and whether it includes legal expenses cover. With Simply Business, you can check the details of your policy wording before you buy.

Read more about deciding your cover level.

What’s the difference between professional indemnity and public liability insurance?

Public liability insurance covers compensation claims from the public if someone is injured or loses out financially and blames your business. Professional indemnity insurance covers claims from clients who lose out financially because of a mistake you made or advice you gave.

Public liability insurance at a glance

• if your work causes injury or property damage
• covers compensation payouts and legal costs
• even covers damage to third party property
• covers you for past mistakes
• some clients or trade bodies may require a certain level of public liability cover

Professional indemnity insurance at a glance

• if a client decides your work or advice is inadequate
• covers you in case you need to fix your mistake at your own expense
• protects you against financial loss while you're defending or settling a claim
• a key consideration for businesses that provide advice or services
• you may be able to backdate your policy start date to cover you for previous work

Read more about the difference between professional indemnity and public liability.

Is professional indemnity insurance required by law?

Professional indemnity insurance isn't a legal requirement. But regulators and professional bodies may require your business to have professional indemnity insurance, so you should check whether it's compulsory. As an example, professions like solicitors, accountants and architects may need it.

Read more about whether you need to have professional indemnity insurance.

How much does professional indemnity insurance cost?

This depends on factors like the nature of your business, the type of work it carries out, and the level of cover you choose. You can easily check how much professional indemnity insurance will cost by running a quick quote. Businesses with higher levels of risk usually pay more for their policy.

Read more about how much professional indemnity insurance costs.

Is professional indemnity insurance tax deductible?

Businesses can deduct 'allowable expenses' when calculating their taxable profit and business insurance is an allowable expense. This means you can deduct the cost of professional indemnity insurance when calculating your taxable profit. Make sure you keep a record of your income and expenses for HMRC.

Read more about whether professional indemnity insurance is tax deductible.

Who needs professional indemnity insurance?

If you think you may need professional indemnity insurance, you should first check whether your regulator or professional body requires you to have a policy. Certain professions, such as architects, accountants, and chartered surveyors, must have professional indemnity cover in order to operate legally.

Some client contracts will require that you have a certain level of professional indemnity cover.

But if this isn't the case, you may still feel that professional indemnity insurance is right for your business. It's particularly popular with businesses that provide advice or a professional service because it can cover you if your work leads to a financial loss for your client.

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