Professional
Indemnity Insurance is not a legal mandatory requirement, but many industry
bodies and business sectors require it, for example, engineering, surveying and
accountancy. In addition, many professionals
working on a contract basis will need PI insurance in order to be awarded contracts
– Archaeologists and Archaeological businesses are likely to fall into this
category.
Where you
are providing advice, services or designs to a client, PI insurance will
protect you against legal costs and compensation potentially resulting from
your actions:
- Professional negligence (including poor advice
or mistakes)
- Defamation and libel
- Loss of documents and / or data
- Unintentional breach of copyright and / or
confidentiality
- Loss of goods and / or money (your own or your
client’s for which you are responsible)
Of
course, your strive to provide the very best service, but, unfortunately, there
is always a chance that you or one of your team might make a mistake.
With PI
insurance you are insuring against the possibility of having to pay out thousands
of pounds in compensation and legal fees to defend a claim – as well as the
opportunity cost of time
spent defending the allegations.
Do you
need professional indemnity insurance?
If you
provide your clients with advice or services, then yes. Most archaeological consultancies do have PI
insurance. Most organisations engaging
your services will require you to have PI insurance.
What
limit of professional indemnity do I need?
If a
specific contract requires PI insurance, it's likely that your client will specify
a minimum amount.
Otherwise,
you industry body may suggest a minimum requirement. If not, it is worth considering a worst case
scenario which might occur if you make a mistake in a piece of client work for
a client. In UK legal fees can be huge,
and your client may incur additional losses too. Levels of cover range from £100,000 and
upwards. Call me to discuss on 02082550617 / 07768 865983.
