Professional Indemnity cover
Public Liability Insurance
Legal & Equipment cover

We do not directly advise on business insurance but have a range of contacts who can help you with this. Working for yourself comes with certain legal obligations and you should consider:

Clients may check to see that you carry professional indemnity insurance
Mistakes can be costly with companies becoming more litigious and likely to sue if something goes wrong
Agency contracts do not normally cover you for mistakes

The whole area of contractor insurance is getting increasingly complex and it is vital that you get the best possible advice on the subject. While it is unlikely that someone will try and claim against you, if they do, the claim is likely to be high as they may try and claim that you were directly responsible for the financial loss that their company suffered.

The following types of insurance are available:

Professional Indemnity
This is designed to meet the financial cost of defending a claim brought against you and would typically include the damages if they became payable. This could include where clients can prove a loss due to a mistake on your part. It would also cover you if you are sued by a dissatisfied client who actually has no valid claim, but you still need to defend yourself (which could be costly).

Public Liability
Protects you against your legal liability where you cause damage to either someone else or their property. This could be spilling coffee into a computer or over someone. It would also cover you for accidents at a clients property - i.e someone trips over your computer cable.

Legal Expenses
This covers you if you need to take legal action against a company or agency to recover lost fees or income.

Legal Defence
Covers you if a civil or criminal legal action is taken out against you. Certain policies would cover the Data Protection Act.

Tax Protection
This covers you for legal costs and accountants fees if you are investigated by the Inland Revenue or Customs and Excise.

Equipment Cover
Covers all your equipment (including IT) and would pay out the replacement value if your assets are destroyed.

Employment Disputes
Covers you for legal costs if you employ people and they proceed to take legal action against you.