do you have professional indemnity insurance? esp interested in people whose products are written.

[hatwoman]

I produce written research reports, and comments on clients' reports. the only reason I can think of for getting PI insurance is if a client were sued for defamation/slander/libel and then they sued me. I'm not a journalist writing juicy stories. I pretty rarely write anything about named individuals. Though I might write stuff about governments. Does anyone have any thoughts on what I should get cover for (if anything)? and how much cover I should get? Or, even better, does anyone know of an independent sourse of advice on this. I'm feeling a bit lost and frustrated - got a couple of quotes and the policy documents are so difficult to decipher that I'm not wholly happy I'm getting the right thing.

I don't, and I do somewhat similar work to you. FWIW I don't know anyone among my colleagues who does either. I have thought about it a bit but decided the possibility of being sued was too remote. Is the area you work in notably litigious? I work on policy and some professional development in the cultural sector. One scenario I've thought about a bit is say I draw up some guidelines for an organisation to use in running a programme. Something goes badly wrong with the programme and someone pursues a claim against them - perhaps under employment or equality law. Could they then sue me? On balance I just don't think it's all that likely, largely because of the culture of the sector. And on the one occasion I've done a piece of work around positive action training where I thought it was sufficiently contentious that someone might try and pursue a claim against the organisation I was working for, I made sure there was money in the budget for specialist legal advice so the buck stopped with the lawyer not with me. Not sure that helps at all...

thanks dotty. I think, on balance, it's very unlikely. the thing is I do sometimes say (not very nice stuff)stuff about governments. in all my time in the sector I've known of one case when a govt has tried to sue a big-name client of mine. for the big-name client to try to pass that on to me is virtually unthinkable. govt - massive-name - little self-employed me. it would be so David and Goliath it's almost laughable. but it does scare me - if govts (esp. not very nice ones) get a bee in their bonnet they'll chuck whatever it takes at it in terms of money.

I suppose the other (much more likely) possibility is me making a stupid mistake re referencing and someone suing for plaigarism. I'm paranoid and meticulous but no-one's above mistakes.

Are you prepared to spend your time and your savings defending your family home against a claim, whether that claim is likely to succeed or not?

If not, get PII. And put a limitation of liability clause in your standard terms (capped at the same figure as the limit of your PII - the insurer should be able to provide appropriate wording).

Personally I prefer Hiscox for their all-round service but you can find cheaper.

Alternatively, trade as a company rather than an individual so there is nothing of value to sue. Best of all, do both.

I have PI as the daily mail love to have a bash at my area so thought it too risky not too.

I managed to get mine for £100 with discount through my union- mineis with Hiscox but I think I went through a broker to get it-fraid I can't remember the name of the broker though.

We've (DH and I) got PI - it's required for all of our contracts but we're more engineering than you are. I would expect that if you needed it, the companies you get contracts for would require it (to protect themselves)...

It's bloody expensive too - far more than the rest of our insurance. We had to shop around with a couple of brokers to find a reasonable quote - prices varied by 400%, mostly because my work is not standard stuff (but very very unlikely to cause any problems while my DH's stuff is more standard) but we finally found coverage for about £125 a month. We used to be with Hiscox for abour £50 a month but when we had to take out a new policy (changed company due to moving accountants from England to Scotland) the price had gone up 600% due to changes in the market (apparently). If you can get it for £100 a year, I'd do it!

I have never had PI. Perhaps I should!

I have been reading this thread with interest, too. The National Union of Journalists offers all sorts of legal advice, various discounts, and I know has negotiated legal rates for solicitors to help with redundancy settlements (at the very least, as I used that service).

However, putting something into standard terms seems the safest and cheapest option. After all, if we are freelancers, surely companies are outsourcing just one task to us, not all their legal stuff as well?