Professional Indemnity Insurance Explained

Professional Indemnity Insurance provides essential financial protection for a wide range of professional advisers including accountants, engineers and computer consultants. In the event that a client suffers financial loss as a result of alleged neglect, error or omission professional indemnity insurance will meet the cost of defending claims and any damages payable.

Any person who gives advice, designs, or offers similar services in a professional capacity is seen by clients as an expert. In these times of high consumer awareness, clients will not hesitate to pursue a claim if they feel that they have received sub-standard service. The need for professional indemnity insurance has never been greater.

While some professional people see professional indemnity insurance as an expensive and unnecessary overhead, we know from experience that any professional can produce substantial claims. Court awards have risen sharply in recent years. Without insurance, the financial security of a business is threatened. The following examples highlight the importance of professional indemnity insurance :

• A business wished to be known by a particular trade name. After consulting with company registration agents, it was told that there was no objection to its chosen name. Proceedings were issued by a company with a similar name and £20,000 was paid in connection by the agents.
• Detailers prepared structural drawings for the erection of steelwork. It was subsequently alleged that the drawings contained errors and £110,000 was claimed for the costs of alteration and the resulting delays in construction.
• An auctioneer sold property
  at auction over a number of years. It was alleged that the property was stolen and a claim for £250,000 was brought for conversion.
• It was alleged that consulting engineers were negligent in their design of waste heating boilers. A claim for £4m was brought for the cost of extra work and the resulting delays.
• An estate agent missed the opportunity to carry out a rent review because of a defective rent review notice. The claim was settled for £50,000.

Professional Indurance Agents are happy to provide professional indemnity insurance quotes for the UK or anywhere else in the world as well as quotation for other business insurance including Public Liability Insurance, Employers Liability Insurance and Directors and Officers Insurance. So please visit Professional Insurance agents where you can get an instant online quote and be on cover in a matter of minutes.

Solicitors to find it hard to get their professional indemnity insurance this year

It may seem a long way off but September/October deadline is not far away and this year may be very difficult for Solicitors buying  their Professional Indemnity Insurance.

With serious losses over many years, major insurers are looking very closely at whether they wish to continue offering cover for solicitors.  Some have already pulled out of the PI market altogether. This coupled with the fact that experts are warning that professional indemnity (PI) insurance is more important than ever due to clients being more likely to take legal action against a company of something goes wrong.

The number of claims made for professional negilgence traditionally increase when there is a downturn in the economy and even if the allegation is unfounded valuable time and resources will be taken up, the cost of these could undermine the companies finances unless proper cover is in place.

Any PI policy that is put into place should cover the cost of defending a claim and any potential payments and should be tailored to the needs of the individual client.

Quotations for Professional Indemnity Insurance can be obtained online from Professional Insurance Agents who also provide a full brokering service for those clients who are unable to obtain terms online or who require a fully tailored policy.