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Insurance for consultants
Working for yourself as a consultant can be a very rewarding career, but it’s important to protect yourself from any potential risks.
Thankfully there are various forms of insurance for consultants to protect you financially should anything go wrong.
In this guide we’ll take a look at those forms of cover and how they can help you.
Risks
The occupation of ‘consultant’ can cover a whole range of different fields and industries, but many of the risks involved are very similar.
Some of those risks include the following:
- A client suffering a loss due to your advice
- A client or member of the public suffering a personal injury
- A client or member of the public suffering property damage
- Your business property being damaged or stolen
- Being unable to work due to injury or illness
Many of these risks are unavoidable no matter how careful we are, but thankfully we can protect against the financial consequences with insurance.
Professional Indemnity
For most consultants this will be the most common form of insurance required.
If you have provided advice to a client, and that client then suffers a financial loss due to your error, omission or other act, then you could find yourself liable for that loss.
Professional indemnity insurance can protect you against such losses by covering the cost of the claim.
Although this is a fairly straightforward type of insurance on the surface, it can be quite complex when it comes to claims so it is important to discuss your specific needs with a qualified insurance broker.
Public Liability
This form of insurance will cover you if your consulting activities result in property damage or personal injury to another person.
If your negligence results in physical injury or damage to a person or their property, you could be liable for a range of costs including medical expenses, compensation, repair or replacement.
A public liability insurance policy can protect you and your business against such claims.
Whilst public liability is generally more important for consultants who have clients visiting them at their own office (including a home office), there are benefits to having cover even if you have no client contact at your own premises.
General Property
Whilst a typical consultant may not have a big collection of tools like a tradesman or similar, you will still have valuable ‘tools of trade’ such as a laptop and smart phone that need protecting.
As part of a business insurance policy that covers your professional indemnity and public liability, you can include additional coverage for general property.
If you work from home you may be able to cover such items under your home insurance, however for full protection both at the office and out on the road, general property cover is a good option.
Income Protection
Although income protection is not traditionally thought of as business insurance, it is still a very important form of cover for consultants.
As a consultant you are really relying on your own ability to work in order to generate an income for yourself.
If you cannot work due to injury or illness, generally your income will stop fairly quickly. And if you work for yourself, there is no such thing as sick leave or workers compensation.
An income protection policy can replace a large portion of your income for a set period of time or until you are able to return to work.
Getting Advice
As a consultant you will no doubt understand the important of seeking advice from a professional. And insurance is no different.
For professional indemnity, public liability and general property insurance you should speak with an insurance broker, and for income protection you should speak with a financial adviser.
Here at publicliabilityinsurance.com.au we have access to both brokers and advisers who can assist with all of the consultants insurance types we have detailed above.
To obtain a quote on your cover or for more information please call our office on 1300 542 245 or use our online quote request form.
Consultant Types
Below we have listed a selection of consultant types who may benefit from business insurance:
- Advertising
- Accounting
- Business
- Communications
- Compliance
- Human Resources
- IT
- Management
- Marketing
- Online
- Public Relations
- Strategic Planning
- Technology
- Training
If your consultancy type is not listed above please contact us as we may still be able to assist.