What is the meaning of professional indemnity insurance?

Asked by: Mina Ullrich  |  Last update: July 20, 2023
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Professional indemnity insurance protects you against claims for loss or damage made by clients or third parties as a result of the impact of negligent services you provided or negligent advice you offered.

What does indemnity mean in insurance?

Indemnification is an agreement where your insurer helps cover loss, damage or liability incurred from a covered event. Indemnity is another way of saying your insurer pays for a loss, so you don't have financial damages.

Who uses professional indemnity insurance?

Professional indemnity (PI) insurance is a commercial policy designed to protect business owners, freelancers and the self-employed if clients claim a service is inadequate. Any organisation which provides a professional service or gives advice could be sued if the recipient is unhappy with their work.

What is another name for professional indemnity insurance?

Professional liability insurance (PLI), also called professional indemnity insurance (PII) but more commonly known as errors & omissions (E&O) in the US, is a form of liability insurance which helps protect professional advice- and service-providing individuals and companies from bearing the full cost of defending ...

What is professional indemnity insurance in India?

A Professional Liability Insurance (also called Professional Indemnity Insurance) is something that is there to protect businesses or even professionals who provide services or advice, such as accountants, lawyers, or doctors, against any claims of negligence or unintentional breach of a written contract, or ...

Griffiths & Armour: What is Professional Indemnity Insurance?

15 related questions found

What is indemnity example?

A common example of indemnification happens with reagrd to insurance transactions. This often happens when an insurance company, as part of an individual's insurance policy, agrees to indemnify the insured person for losses that the insured person incurred as the result of accident or property damage.

How is indemnity insurance calculated?

How do insurers calculate your professional indemnity insurance premium? The main drivers for your professional indemnity cost will be the industry you work, services you offer to your clients, the professional fees earned and exposure to increased risk factors.

What is the difference between Pi and PL insurance?

The short answer could be designed as follows: professional indemnity insurance cover claims made by clients for professional negligence or mistakes, whereas public liability insurance covers claims made by members of the public for injury or damage.

Why professional indemnity insurance is required?

Professional indemnity insurance protects you and your business against claims for alleged negligence or breach of duty arising from an act, error or omission in the performance of professional services.

What happens if you don't have professional indemnity insurance?

What happens if I don't have Professional Indemnity insurance? If you don't have this protection then you could be liable for any costs relating to a claim made against you. This could include legal costs and compensation.

Is professional indemnity insurance compulsory?

Is professional indemnity insurance required by law? It is not a legal requirement, but most professional institutes and associations require their members to have some form of professional indemnity insurance and regulate this through their rules and regulations.

How long does professional indemnity insurance last?

Typically, run-off policies are maintained annually, for up to six years. Six years is the period many professional bodies require their members to carry run-off insurance as this is the usual statute of limitation, so it's a good benchmark to use for all professions.

What are the types of indemnity?

Types of Indemnity
  • Broad Indemnification. The Promisor promises to indemnify the Promisee against the negligence of all parties, including third parties, even if the third party is solely at fault.
  • Intermediate Indemnification. ...
  • Limited Indemnification.

When can you claim professional indemnity insurance?

Professional Indemnity Insurance is offered on a claims made basis, meaning you must have a policy in place at the time you are first made aware of a claim or potential claim, or are first notified of circumstances that could lead to a claim.

Who needs pi?

Accountants, financial consultants, surveyors, engineers and healthcare professionals are all likely to need professional indemnity insurance due to requirements set by their respective industry bodies.

How do I know if I need professional indemnity insurance?

You are likely to need professional indemnity insurance if: You provide advice or professional services to your clients (including consulting or contracting) You provide designs to your clients (such as working as an architect or design engineer)

What is the difference between liability and indemnity?

The key difference between public liability and professional indemnity is that while public liability covers for risks of injury or damage, professional indemnity is focused on the work side of things, covering for professional errors and negligence.

What is the minimum professional indemnity insurance?

The regulation requires policies to provide a minimum level of indemnity coverage of not less than $1 million for any one claim; and not less than $3 million in the aggregate, for all claims made during the period of insurance.

Why is professional indemnity insurance so expensive?

Professional indemnity insurance covers compensation for a client's financial loss due to negligence, which can be a significant amount of money in some situations—as a result, PI premiums can be quite expensive to reflect the potentially large payouts by insurers.

How do I claim against professional indemnity insurance?

Insurance + Risk Services
  1. 5 important tips for claiming on your Professional Indemnity Insurance.
  2. Duty of Disclosure – if in doubt notify the insurer! ...
  3. Include ALL Insured names. ...
  4. List and update ALL of your professional services. ...
  5. Ensure your PI policy covers Vicarious Liability. ...
  6. Continuity / Continuous Cover Clause.

What is the rule of indemnity?

The rule of indemnity, or the indemnity principle, says that an insurance policy should not confer a benefit that is greater in value than the loss suffered by the insured. Indemnities and insurance both guard against financial losses and aim to restore a party to the financial status held before an event occurred.

What does a professional indemnity insurance policy cover?

Professional indemnity insurance protects you against claims for loss or damage made by clients or third parties as a result of the impact of negligent services you provided or negligent advice you offered. Compensation claims can be brought against you even if you provided a service or offered advice for free.

Why is professional indemnity insurance written on a claims made basis?

You therefore need to be insured both at the time the incident occurred and also when your client makes their claim against you. 'Claims made' works this way because professional errors can be discovered many months or even years after the mistake was made.

Does professional indemnity insurance cover intellectual property?

In summary, if a business owns valuable IP, they should consider protecting it with insurance. While Professional Indemnity insurance will cover them if they breach IP that belongs to someone else, it won't protect them if they want to make a claim for IP infringement – they will need Legal Expenses insurance.

Do all companies have professional indemnity insurance?

Professional insurance is not a legal requirement for businesses. In fact, the only business insurance that's required by law is employers' liability insurance, which is a legal requirement for most businesses with staff.