Insurance?? do I need it?

HI Everyone,

Just wondering what insurance I should have as a sole trader, designer with no premises?

Anyone able to advise / quote on this? Thanks!

Hi Helen,

There's a few things to consider:

Public Liability - this covers you against claims brought against you for injury or damage to third party property. The risk is very minimal but you may find some customers insist on it. Premium would be around the £70 mark

Professional Indemnity - this covers you for claims made against you in respect of your legal liability for

Breach of professional duty
Libel or slander
Unintentional breach of confidentiality
Unintentional infringement of intellectual property rights or copyright
Loss of or damage to documents
Any other civil liability

Professional Indemnity claims are fairly rare, but when they do happen they can be very complex and costly. Premiums start from around the £200 mark

Other areas that you might also want to consider include Legal Expenses and Personal Accident / Sickness

Hope this helps - feel free to call if you want to chat through this

regards,

Paul

Helen i never got insurance in my formative years, that doesn't mean i didn't need it, it just meant i had other stuf to worry about as i built my biz.

Hi Helen, good to see Paul's very helpful and non-scaremongering response!

I have professional indemnity insurance, which is compulsory for qualified accountants. As to whether you need it...could a client ever argue that design work you did actually damaged their brand significantly causing them financial loss? Presumably they'd always give the ok to a design before it was used anywhere, so I reckon it'd be hard for them to come back later on.

I decided against public liability. As I understand it, reasons where it could be useful would be if I visited a client and accidentally spilt tea all over their computers destroying them, or if someone visited me at home, injured themselves tripping on my stairs and tried to sue. Potentially pretty scary stuff, which I've got my fingers crossed won't happen...

NB I don't work in insurance so the above is my non-professional opinion!

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the positive feedback - I do try to avoid the doom and gloom when it comes to the need for insurance. I did have one particulary paranoid client once who insured for absolutely everything including his staff winning the lottery and walking out - didn't need to do any scare-mongering with him as he did it all himself

If you want a public liability cover just in case you do spill the tea let me know

Helen, Chris raises an important point here. A lot of people think professional indemnity is just for the accountants, solicitors, insurance brokers etc and as Chris says it would be hard for someone to bring a claim against you because as a result of a rebranding they either lost business or didn't gain any more! Your main exposure would probably be unintentional infringement of someone's copyright or other intellectual property. Just defending these claims can be expensive

Check your house contents cover if you have clients visiting you at home. When I told my previous insurance company they immediately terminated my policy.

Hi Helen

I'd suggest that you look at some form of income protection as if you were unfortunate enough to fall ill whilst your business is in its formative stages you are unlikely to be able to pay yourself an income for very long before the money runs out. Critical illness might also be appropriate and life assurance (only if you have dependents or anyone you share financial committments with).

There are now a number of insurers that allow you to combine several covers under one policy which makes cover for smaller sums assured a lot better value for money.

Brad's point has some validity, but the general argument about insurance is that a small premium when you can afford it (even if only just) is a lot more attractive than a massive bill when you can't.

Feel free to PM me if you would like me to give you an idea of costs.

Good luck

I have Liability and indemnity cover for the reasons stated above. I hope that I never need to claim but it's reassuring that I have it and sets me apart from the chancers who don't.

Barry makes a good point about having clients visiting you at home - insurers don't like it, but it's something which in my business does happen from time to time. I've also got £5m cover for professional liability. Britain is becoming a more litigious society, and since I only pay £101 p.a. for £5m cover, it's well worth it.

Well said Paul - totally agree. The Public Liability protection is very good value and is much cheaper than the cost of correcting red wine / tea / or worse on the carpet; then there is the possibility that someone trips over your lap top which has been left on the floor with the lead trailing all over the place.......and so on.

Chris....not that I am suggesting that your clients regularly offer you red wine.......just taking theoretically!

Hi Helen,

I have public liability and indemnity. It was one of the first things I did when setting up, because though I am hopefully unlikely to use it, like any insurance it is piece of mind and security. If I put myself in your shoes, I would want to be sure that I was completely covered if I unintentionally breached copyright...

See you soon,

Hi Helen

I have professional indemnity because my professional regulator insists on it, I always visit Client's at their premises and as such have forgone the public liability insurance.

Wow. Super advice everyone, I think by the sounds of things the professional indemnity insurance would be what I need as I never have clients come to me - I always go to them or meet in a convenient mid point location. I would hope that I would never need it but you are right on the grounds that having to fight a possible copywrite case would be not be fun!

Right next question... Who can quote me happy?!

H x

I will give you a call tomorrow if that's ok Helen - i'm in the office from around 11

I'll PM you with the info I'll need

Cheers

Pauls sorts out all my insurance needs, top man.