Compare professional indemnity insurance quotes

Professional Indemnity Insurance Comparison in Northern Ireland

Finding professional indemnity insurance in Northern Ireland can sometimes be a monotonous business.

At CompareNI.com we want to help so we provide a simple solution to help you try to find cheap Northern Ireland professional indemnity insurance quotes. Whether you are a small business, self employed, or a large business you have come to the right place. We will try to match your entered criteria to our panel of insurance providers who might be able to provide you with professional indemnity insurance quotes – we only work with providers who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

What can we help you with?

Here is just a sample of some of the types of professional indemnity insurance we may be able to help you find: Accountants, architects, bookkeepers, contractors, counsellors, doctors, engineers, it, medical, nurses, physiotherapy, psychologists, solicitors, surveyors and more!

Compare cover today

By filling out our form on CompareNI.com you can get started – our system collects your details and automatically passes them to our panel of professional indemnity insurance providers who quote for NI. These insurance providers will then get in contact with you for free to provide you with their cheapest quotes.

What does professional indemnity cover?

Professional indemnity (PI) cover protects you if a client claims that your work, service or professional judgement caused them a financial loss. Claims often involve a mistake, an oversight or work that a client says fell short of what was agreed.

A policy will typically cover your legal defence costs and any compensation you have to pay, up to the policy limit. What is covered, and what is excluded, varies between policies, so check the wording on each quote.

Who needs PI cover?

It is mainly for businesses and self-employed people who are paid for their expertise, such as consultants, architects, surveyors and IT contractors. The list below shows more of the professions we can help with.

For some professions, cover is a regulatory requirement:

• Surveyors: RICS says “RICS-regulated firms must ensure that all previous and current professional work is covered by adequate and appropriate professional indemnity cover” (RICS).
• Architects: the Architects Registration Board expects architects to have adequate and appropriate insurance cover. It would expect a minimum level of indemnity of £250,000 on an each and every claim basis, with exceptions for some fire-safety and cladding claims (ARB PII guidance).
• Chartered accountants: ICAEW says PII “is compulsory for all members of ICAEW who have a practising certificate and are engaged in public practice” (ICAEW).

Even where it is not required, clients may ask for proof of PI cover. Some also set a minimum level of cover in their contracts.

How much PI cover do I need?

There is no single figure. Start with any minimum set by your regulator or written into your client contracts. Then think about the size of the projects you work on, and the financial loss a client could suffer if something went wrong. A smaller firm on lower-value work may choose a lower limit than a firm on large contracts.

Check how the limit applies. An “each and every claim” limit applies separately to each claim, although some policies set an aggregate limit for certain types of claim. An aggregate limit caps the total the policy will pay in the policy period. A broker or insurer can help you choose a limit that suits your work.

Claims-made cover and run-off cover

PI policies are usually written on a claims-made basis. That means “it is the policy in force at the time that a claim is notified that would come into effect” (ARB PII guidance). In practice, you need cover in place when a claim is made, even if the work was done years earlier.

That is why run-off cover matters if you retire or close your business. ICAEW describes run-off insurance as cover that “responds to claims for work done while in practice but arising after the practice has ceased” (ICAEW). ARB guidance says architects who stop practising should keep at least six years of run-off cover, at the same level as their last year of cover.

You can also compare public liability insurance, which covers injury or damage to members of the public. Or see the main types of business insurance in Northern Ireland.