Professional Indemnity Insurance
Professional indemnity insurance helps protects your assets and brand if your advice or insurance causes a client to take legal action against you.
What is professional indemnity insurance?
Anyone can make a mistake – but if your business is found liable for negligence, the costs can be financially devastating. Not only can it lead to an expensive lawsuit, but your business’ hard-earning reputation may be damaged as a result.
Professional indemnity insurance helps protects your assets and brand if your advice or insurance causes a client to take legal action against you.
Who should consider professional indemnity insurance?
Professional indemnity insurance is mandatory in some industries, such as medicine, accounting, law and financial advisers with requirements differing between states and territories.
Even if it’s not required by law, professional indemnity insurance is recommended for anyone who is providing professional services or advice in exchange for a fee – such as IT consultants, graphic designers and more. It’s also often a customer requirement that you have this cover in place.
What can professional indemnity insurance cover?
Professional indemnity cover is a wide-ranging insurance solution which may include cover from accidents to errors and omissions. Your Westphalian insurance broker can help you find the right product tailored to suit your needs. Depending on your policy, professional indemnity insurance may cover you against:
| Type of cover | Potential benefits |
| Civil liability | Civil liability to a third party arising out of the conduct of their professional business. |
| Inquiry costs | The cost of defending an inquiry by a regulatory body into the professional conduct of the insured. |
| Defence costs | The costs involved in defending a claim trigged by the policy. |
| Fidelity cover | Direct financial loss of the business caused by the dishonest or fraudulent conduct of an employee which is first discovered during the period of insurance. |
| Advancements of costs and expenses | Additional costs and expenses incurred during a claim. |
What usually isn't covered by professional indemnity insurance?
Exclusions, the excess you need to pay and limits of liability can vary greatly depending on the nature of the product you are purchasing, the associated risk, the insurer and your requirements.
Policies generally do not include cover for:
- Contractual or commercial liabilities
- Liability which results from fraud and dishonesty
- Pollution
- Depending on your occupation, third party bodily injury/property damage
- Unpaid fees
There are exclusions which are specific to each type of policy, which your Westphalian insurance broker can outline for you.
