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When purchasing your professional indemnity insurance policy and cover, you do also need to consider other important insurances:
- Directors and Officers Liability
- Public and Employers Liability
- Office Insurance
- Intellectual Property Insurance
- Mergers and Acquisitions Insurance
- Securities / Floatations / IPO Insurances
- Medical Malpractice Insurance
You can purchase these covers separately accept when there is a need for Employers Liability when both Public & Employers Liabilities must be purchased together. There are some exceptions but it is very unusual when Employers Liability can be purchased stand alone.
Public Liability Insurance
There are many areas where your business is exposed to risks. A Public Liability policy can cover you for the following:
Injury to any person
Loss of or damage to property
Obstruction, nuisance, trespass or interference with, rights of way, of air, light, water or others.
Wrongful detention, imprisonment, eviction, arrest, or invasion of the right to privacy.
The standard policies usually extend to cover UK , Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, although we can place cover worldwide including USA and Canada with US jurisdiction and in some cases we can place public liability risks with worldwide cover outside the jurisdiction of the UK.
A public liability policy can be extended to also cover the following:
Health & Safety at work – legal defence costs
Motor contingent liability
Movement of obstructing vehicles
Leased, hired or rented premises
Cross liability
Car park and Cloakroom liability – i.e. where a car or personal belongings of a person are held in trust by you or in your custody or control.
Liabilities arising under the Data Protection Act to pay compensation for damages or distress
Consumer Protection Act – legal costs & expenses
Bona-fide sub-contractors
Defective Premises Act
Product Liabilities
So a Public Liability policy clearly helps you or your business protect against a vast number of possible exposures.
Employers Liability Insurance
Employers Liability Insurance is a statutory requirement. If you run a business where people are working for you (even on a part-time or voluntary basis), there will be a certificate issued by the insurance company that must be retained for a period of 40 years. The current certificate must be displayed where your employees can see it.
The penalties for not holding an Employers Liability certificate can be severe with fines up to £2,500 per day.
The statutory requirement for Employers Liability is £5,000,000, however, cover is usually a minimum £10,000,000 and will protect the company or employers against claims that maybe made by an employee of a business. Claims can range from mental anguish to industrial injury and many more exposures besides.
Employers Liability Insurance is essential to most businesses and employers for their protection and to provide the employer with legal defence costs and damage awards, should an employee get injured or sustain losses because of an employers fault.
Office Packages Insurance
If you run a professional business from an office, much of your time maybe spent away from it, visiting clients, suppliers and business contacts. You will want to make sure that your business is properly protected but with little time to spare you often don’t have the time to search for the right insurance cover.
We can take care of your insurance needs, leaving you to concentrate on running your business. Office insurance is a package that has been designed to meet the needs of all types of office-based businesses such as consultants, architects, solicitors and surveyors.
It includes Contents cover, Revenue Protection, Public Liability and Employers Liability cover and Commercial Legal Protection. You can also select from a broad range of optional covers and limits to tailor the policy to suit your individual business needs.
Asset Protection
Protection for the tangible assets of the business.
Building Insurance
Contents Insurance
Revenue Protection
financial protection for the business
Business Interruption covers loss of income and increased office expenses, in the event of fire, flood and natural disasters.
Legal Liabilities
defending legal action
Employer’s Liability
Public and Products Liability
Commercial Legal Protection: provides cover for legal action in relation to a whole spectrum of issues affecting businesses such as employment disputes, debt recovery and VAT disputes.
Employee Benefits
protection for a valuable asset (optional)
Personal Accident
Business Travel: provides cover whilst travelling on company business in the UK, Europe and Worldwide.
Directors & Officers Insurance
Directors and Officers may be held personally liable to all parties that have any interest in the affairs of the Company. In essence, a Directors and Officers Liability Insurance is a form of Professional Indemnity cover for Company Directors and Officers.
General Duties of Directors
Fiduciary – Not to act outside their own authority, not to commit the Company to transactions prohibited by law or outside the Company’s Memorandum of Association and to avoid placing themselves in a position where their personal interests conflict with those of the Company.
Care – That one might expect of a reasonable person.
Skill – Although, “he need not exhibit a greater degree of skill than may reasonably be expected from a person of his own knowledge and experience”, (City Equitable Fire Insurance Company 1925), a Director or Officer or anyone with a particular skill or qualification should exhibit a greater duty of skill than those without, eg. Finance Director, Company Secretary etc.
Statutory Exposures (Typical)
Companies Act (over 200 offences)
Insolvency Act (“ Wrongful Trading”)
Health and Safety at Work Act
Data Protection Act
Consumer Protection Legislation
Company Directors Disqualification Act
Financial Services Act
Company Securities (Insider Dealing) Act
E C Directives and Regulations
Racial and Sex Discrimination Legislation
Circumstances
Taking into account the duties and exposures highlighted, a Director has to be mindful of all of these when considering the following circumstances which quite often give rise to claims or legal proceedings:-
Sale of Assets/Divestments
Acquisitions/Investments
Poor Performance
Share Issues/Change of Share Ownership
Expansion Plans or Rationalisation
Liquidation
Failure to Supervise
Adverse Publicity
Dishonesty of Fellow Directors
Safety and Emergency Regulations
Interested Parties
Parties who have an interest in the affairs of a Company include the following:-
Shareholders/Investors
Employees
Creditors
Customers
Purchasers
Vendors
Competitors
Contractors
Government Departments
Local Authorities
