Professional Indemnity: Always Check The Exclusions!

You know what they say, always read the small print. Because, as with all insurance policies, Professional Indemnity" comes with exclusions.

Some are standard, the kind of thing you’d expect to find with any insurance policy, such as risks already covered elsewhere. But others you need to think about more seriously.

For example, if you’re currently involved in any form of professional dispute that could lead to a claim, you’ll need to declare it before taking out a new pi insurance policy. In a similar way to a health insurance policy which probably won’t provide cover for any pre-existing medical condition, so a professional indemnity policy will almost certainly exclude any specific risk that was known about at the time the policy was taken out.

You should also be aware of possible geographical or territorial exclusions. The likelihood of a claim being made, and the size of any claim, can be significantly higher in some countries than others – the United States being an obvious example. So you should definitely make sure that any professional indemnity insurance you’re considering doesn’t exclude specific places where you’re likely to do business.

Some pi insurance policies offer retroactive cover (i.e. cover for claims arising from work done in the past) as standard but other policies may exclude it. Once again, it’s important to check.

And when thinking about exclusions, it’s a good idea to think about the amount of cover you’re taking out. It might seem like an obvious point but it’s easy to overlook the fact that every professional indemnity policy will exclude the amount of any claim above the limit of the cover specified.

The conclusion has to be that while the small print may seem boring, you could live to regret not checking the exclusions. But if you want some help on finding the professional indemnity policy that meets your needs exactly, all you have to do is call 0870 752 5455 or email info@professionalindemnityinsurance.co.uk.