Know today whether you need professional indemnity.
For some professions it is mandatory. For others it is advisable. For a share of them it adds little. We tell you where you stand.
This is not the same as your public liability
Many business owners think their public liability covers everything that goes wrong. It does not. That policy covers the material and bodily damage you cause during your activity: a pipe you drill into, a visitor who falls. Professional indemnity is about something else: the loss that follows from your work itself.
Think of:
- A calculation that does not add up, leaving a client to rebuild.
- A piece of advice on which someone takes the wrong decision.
- An error in a file that lets a deadline expire.
- A design that turns out not to work in practice.
In those cases nothing is broken, but money is lost, and that is where your public liability stops.
Whether you need this depends first of all on your profession. For architects and a range of other regulated professions, the law requires this cover. For consultants, designers, engineering firms and IT providers it is not mandatory, but the client hiring you often asks for it. If you mostly carry out work without giving advice or making designs, the chances are it adds little.
Where the line between those three runs exactly depends on what you actually do and on what your contracts say. That is where the conversation begins.
What you get in that one conversation
We ask the questions that determine whether you need cover and how much: what exactly you deliver, which clients you work for, and what your contracts say about liability. That last point is often decisive for this product, and it is usually the part people skip themselves.
Because we are a broker and not an insurer, we have no policy of our own to sell. We compare what different insurers offer for your profession and explain where the differences lie. In professional indemnity, those differences are less in the premium than in the exclusions, and the exclusions are exactly what gets argued about afterwards.
If there is a legal requirement for your profession, we say so straight away. If we find the policy adds little in your situation, we say that too. You then know where you stand without having lost half a day over it.
Everything runs through chat and stays in the same conversation. If your activity changes, if a new contract comes along, or if something goes wrong, you pick up the thread where you left it.
How to start
You send a message through the chat on this page.
You answer a few targeted questions about your assignments. No long questionnaire.
You get a tailored proposal usually within two working days, explaining what is covered, up to what amount, and what is not in the policy.
If you agree, you confirm the proposal.
What a conversation with Ōmata looks like
You do not need to know which policy you are looking for, and there is no form to fill in.
Start your request
Viktor is online
You are talking to an AI assistant. You can ask for a human colleague to take over at any time.
- CustomerA client says our advice cost them money. What now?
- ŌmataReport it to your insurer as soon as you receive the complaint, even if you disagree. Do not respond on the substance yet. Do you hold professional indemnity cover?
- CustomerYes, but I am not sure this is included. The advice dates from 2022.
- ŌmataIt is usually the moment of the complaint that counts, not that of the advice. What profession are you in?
- CustomerSelf-employed accountant and tax adviser.
- ŌmataNoted. Send me your policy — I will pass this on to our expert. You will hear from us usually within two working days.
Try it yourself
Who this is for
If you work with knowledge rather than with your hands, this is the policy that covers your biggest risk. These professions ask for it most.
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Accountancy and tax
Bookkeepers, accountants, tax advisers and auditors. An error in a filing echoes for years.
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Architects and engineering firms
Design, stability, energy performance and site supervision. Mandatory for architects.
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IT and consultancy
A migration that fails, advice that costs the client money. Clients increasingly ask for a certificate.
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Healthcare providers
Doctors, dentists, physiotherapists and nurses. Their own regime, with their own duties.
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Legal and property professions
Lawyers, notaries, bailiffs and estate agents, each with their own bar or institute.
Who this is not for
- Anyone who only sells goods. If you resell without giving advice, your risk sits in product liability and not here.
- Anyone who only builds to someone else’s design. If you execute exactly what an architect prescribed, the design error lies there. Your own workmanship error falls under public liability.
- Anyone in salaried employment. In Belgium an employee is personally liable only in limited cases; the employer carries the risk. If you also work as a self-employed person on the side, it does apply.
- Anyone who delivers neither advice nor design. Without a judgement that can be wrong, there is little to insure here. Public liability is then the policy that counts.
What professional indemnity insurance covers
Professional indemnity usually covers your client’s pure financial loss caused by an error, mistake or omission in the exercise of your profession, plus defence costs. Also property damage and bodily injury flowing from that error, and usually the errors of your staff and of the subcontractors you engage.
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Advisory errors A recommendation that turns out to be wrong and costs the client money.
The core of this policy, and the most common claim.
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Missed deadlines A filing, an appeal period or an application that went out too late.
Often with no argument about the error, only about the amount.
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Calculation and measurement errors A faulty figure in a file, an estimate, a drawing or a return, and what follows from it.
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Pure financial loss A loss without damage or injury.
Precisely what public liability excludes, and here the main event.
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Defence costs Lawyer, expert and court costs, including when the claim turns out to be unfounded.
In a disputed professional error that is often the largest part of the bill.
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Errors by your staff What your employees, trainees and usually your subcontractors get wrong within your engagement.
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Loss of documents and data A client’s papers that go missing or are destroyed, and the cost of reconstructing them.
Usually a separate section with its own limit.
What professional indemnity insurance does not cover
Not covered are intent and fraud, fines and penalties, and what you promised contractually beyond what the law requires. Nor is an error you already knew about before the policy began, or a dispute about your fee.
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Errors you already knew about If you knew at inception that something had gone wrong, it falls outside the policy.
That is why the questionnaire at the start matters so much.
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Intent and fraud Knowingly false papers or knowingly withheld information are never insured, not even when a member of staff did it.
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Fines and penalties Administrative and criminal fines stay with you.
The client’s loss that follows from them may well be covered.
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Disputes about your fee A client who does not pay or disputes your invoice is a collection problem, not a claim.
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Promises beyond the law If you contractually guarantee a result the law does not require of you, that slice of liability falls outside.
Have heavy clauses reviewed before you sign.
Just ask
Claims made: why the moment of the complaint counts
Most professional indemnity policies work on a claims-made basis. It is not the moment of the error that counts but the moment the claim reaches you. An error from 2021 raised only now falls under today’s policy, not under the one from 2021.
That is good news for as long as you stay insured, and something to check the day you stop. Anyone who cancels or retires should check how long their run-off cover lasts.
What determines the price
A figure without your details is a guess. What determines the premium, we can list.
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Profession
The nature of your engagements weighs more than your size.
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Fee income
The annual turnover of your professional activity, as the base.
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Sum insured
Per claim and per insurance year combined.
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Excess
What you carry yourself per file.
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Run-off period
How long cover continues after the policy ends.
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Team
How many people work under your responsibility.
Frequently asked questions
Is professional indemnity mandatory in my profession?
For architects, lawyers, notaries, bailiffs, accountants and tax advisers, estate agents, insurance intermediaries and healthcare providers there is an obligation, each with its own regime and minimum amounts.* For other professions there is no legal duty, but clients increasingly ask for a certificate. Ask your bar or institute what applies to you.
What if an error only surfaces years later?
Most policies work on a claims-made basis: the moment the claim reaches you decides which policy responds, not the moment of the error. While you stay insured that works in your favour. If you stop, cover continues for a run-off period — legally at least thirty-six months.*
What is the difference with public liability?
Public liability covers the physical damage your business causes to third parties: a customer who falls, a broken window. Professional indemnity covers the consequences of an error in what you delivered as knowledge, even with nothing broken. Anyone who does both needs both.
My client is asking for an insurance certificate. What is that?
A statement from your insurer confirming that you are insured, with the covers and the amounts. More and more principals ask for it before the contract is signed. We can request it from your existing insurer, even if the policy does not run through us.
Are my subcontractor’s errors covered?
Usually yes, as long as the work falls within your engagement and you are the liable party towards your client. Your insurer can then recover from the subcontractor. Ask for a certificate from them as well: it makes that recovery a good deal shorter.
What sum insured do I need?
Look at the largest engagement you take on and at what happens if it goes entirely wrong, not at your turnover. For mandatory professions the regime sets a minimum; that minimum is a floor, not advice. For large projects a higher limit per claim is often more useful than a higher annual aggregate.
Who is behind Ōmata?
Ōmata Insurance is the AI-first studio of the Induver group and a sister company of Group Induver NV: two companies within the same group, not parent and subsidiary. Ōmata puts you in touch with Group Induver NV, an insurance broker holding FSMA number 016880; that is where the advice and the policy come about. The full identification is set out in the legal notices.
About Ōmata
Ōmata is the AI-first insurance studio of Group Induver. You tell us what you want to insure over chat; usually within two working days you receive a proposal, drawn up by an insurance broker at Group Induver NV, registered with the FSMA under number 016880.
Ready to start?
Send us a message and tell us briefly what you want to insure. You get an immediate reply and your proposal usually within two working days.
Notes on the asterisks on this page
- The exact regime and amounts differ by profession and change over time — check with your professional body or institute.
- This number of months is a statutory figure from the 2014 insurance act.