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IT Contractor Insurance Professional Indemnity insurance, Public / Employers liability - Hiscox.

Contractor PI insurance - what is retroactive cover?

Published on Aug 3, 2009 |

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Many contractors take out professional indemnity (PI) insurance to cover themselves in case they are found to be negligent during the course of their contract duties.

This type of cover also protects you from claims for the unintentional breach of intellectual property, the loss of documents and data, and similar areas.

In addition to PI insurance for current contract roles, what about cover for advice or work done in the past?

Retroactive Cover

If you wish to take out cover for work done in the past, this is known as "retroactive cover".

It is possible that a client could make a claim against you for work you carried out many years ago, so by adding on retrospective cover to your current PI policy, you will have all bases covered.

Additionally, if you are changing professional indemnity insurance providers, you should also make sure that the new PI policy has backdated cover to protect you from claims on work done in the past.

Where can I get cover from?

Although PI cover is not a compulsory requirement in the IT contracting world (as it is for solicitors, accountants, etc.), many clients now insist that their contractors have adequate cover in place.

You can get a PI quote from one of our partners - Hiscox, or Simply Business.

Retroactive cover is typically included by contractor insurance companies, assuming you have a 'typical' claims history, but you should always check that you are adequately covered before paying for a policy.

You can find out more in our professional indemnity insurance guide for contractors.