What should I ask an insurer when purchasing professional indemnity insurance for the first time?
What is not covered. What type of policy is it – Claims made or Claims arising? First we need to get to grips with very slightly different words that can mean very different things, and only apply to Professional Indemnity policies. Claim made: When a claim is made Claim arising: Not when the claim is made, but when the incident that caused the claim occurred – it could be years ago! Claims made Policy means the insurer will consider a claim that is made during the year of insurance. If you always had claims made policies then the insurer in whose year the claim is made – is duty bound to deal with it. Claims arising Policy means the insurer in whose policy year the claim actually arose – it could have been years ago – deals with the claim. What is the retroactive date position? The retroactive date means the date from which claim will be entertained. Therefore it tends to apply to Claims Made policies. Some, like ours, have no actual date and cover claims arising from any time in the
