Understanding Professional Indemnity Cover
Our insurance brokers are experts at advising charities and arranging charity professional indemnity insurance.
Charity professional indemnity insurance cover legal costs, compensation and settlements following claims of negligent or poor advice.
Our advisers specialise in arranging professional indemnity insurance for charities, ensuring you only pay for the cover you need.
Key benefits:
- Get free advice & a no obligation quote over the phone
- No proposal forms to fill in
- Varying limits of charity professional indemnity insurance available, from £100,000 to £10 million
- Optional covers available so your group has the insurance you need
- Affordable policies (from £7.50/month for £100,000 of cover)
Our charity professional indemnity insurance packages are designed to cover your organisation against claims for wrongful or inadequate advice, errors or omissions or a breach of care. This includes advice given in exchange for a fee as well as advice given to an organisation or individual without cost.
Cover can be extended to include trustee indemnity insurance for claims against you or your trustees for wrongful acts and fidelity guarantee insurance (cover for fraud or dishonesty by employees or volunteers).
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What does professional indemnity insurance cover?
Professional indemnity insurance protects charities and not-for-profits against claims for:
- Negligent advice or errors – for example, if your guidance leads to a client losing out on funding or a grant.
- Breach of confidentiality – accidental disclosure of personal data or sensitive information.
- Defamation – statements made by your organisation that allegedly harm an individual’s or another organisation’s reputation.
- Copyright infringement – unintentional use of protected content or materials.
- Loss of documents – misplacing important papers or files that result in a financial loss.
- Employee dishonesty – cover can be extended to include fraud or dishonesty by staff or volunteers.
This insurance applies whether advice is given face-to-face, in training sessions, or digitally via email, social media or online platforms.
How does it work?
Charity professional indemnity policies are written on a claims-made basis. This means the policy must be active both when the alleged incident took place and when the claim is reported. If a claim is made after your policy has expired, it may not be covered.
Our advisers will explain this clearly and help you maintain continuous protection.
Do charities need professional indemnity insurance?
Not every charity is legally required to have PI cover, but it is highly recommended if your organisation:
- Provides professional advice, consultancy or training
- Handles personal or confidential data
- Produces publications or resources for external use
- Signs contracts with local authorities or funding bodies that specify PI cover
- Engages in advocacy, campaigning or public communication
Without insurance, a single claim could cost your organisation tens of thousands of pounds.
How can we help you?
If you need help determining whether you need charity professional indemnity insurance, please contact us on 020 8651 7420. Our specialist team of advisers are here to help you from a simple question to advice on a more complex range of covers.
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…it was critical that we had the right cover. Despite the lead time that was available to get the quote in, reviewed and agreed Access Insurance met this challenge head on.
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FAQs
This insurance is critical if your charity’s work involves providing any form of guidance, specialist knowledge, or structured advice. If a beneficiary, funder, or member of the public suffers a financial or personal loss after following your advice, they could bring a claim against you.
It’s essential cover for organisations that, for example:
- Run support groups or offer counselling services.
- Provide training, workshops, or educational courses.
- Publish instructional guides or research.
- Offer financial, welfare, or specialist advice.
This is a key consideration. Professional Indemnity is a “claims-made” policy, meaning you must have active cover when the claim is filed. However, policies can be set up with a “retroactive date.” This can cover your past work from an agreed-upon date, protecting you from claims arising from historic advice as long as you maintain continuous cover.
It’s vital to discuss your charity’s history with your broker to ensure there are no gaps in protection.
Allowing a gap in cover may possibly jeopardise your charities professional indemnity historic cover.
Yes. Your duty of care extends to all forms of communication. Whether your advice is given face-to-face, in a Zoom call, via email, or even through a post in a private online support group, this insurance is designed to cover the service you provide, regardless of the medium used to deliver it.
They protect against different types of risk. Trustee Indemnity is about the management of the charity; it protects trustees against claims relating to governance, such as a breach of duty or wrongful financial management.
Professional Indemnity is about the service the charity delivers; it protects the organisation against claims relating to the advice or expertise it provides to beneficiaries and third parties. Many charities that give advice need both.
Standard PI policies usually exclude liability that arises purely from a contract. That means if your charity agrees to take on extra responsibilities in a contract, even with the best intentions, those promises may fall outside your insurance protection.