Professional Risks

Whether you are an architect, part of a design firm, or a freelance designer, this post will outline the essential insurance products you should consider if you work in the architecture industry.

Key Risks For Architects and Related Professionals

• Errors and Omissions – If you make an error in your work, it could lead to some serious problems during the construction process, or afterwards. If these errors result in accident, injury, or financial losses, then someone might make a claim against you.
• Delays – Delays are common in the architectural industry. Unfortunately, certain delays can result in considerable financial losses. Any financial loss could compromise your business. But if you are liable for the delay, then you may also face some legal action.
• Accident and Injury – Construction sites can be dangerous. If you or anyone on your firm experiences any accidents or injuries during a site visit, you may face numerous costs, along with significant business downtime.

What Are The Legal Requirements For Insurance For Architects?

For architects in the UK, some forms of insurance cover are either required by UK law, or as a condition of your membership of certain professional bodies.

Professional Liability Insurance

The Architects Registration Board (ARB) and Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) require all architects in the UK to get adequate professional indemnity cover.

Professional indemnity insurance will cover you for a number of claims involving:

• Errors and omission
• Negligence
• Copyright infringement
• Intellectual property infringement

As we mentioned above, if you make an error in your design, someone may make a claim against you on the grounds of negligence. In this case, professional indemnity insurance can cover your legal costs, along with any compensation that may be due.

Employer’s Liability Insurance

All UK employers have a legal obligation to get employer’s liability insurance. This will cover your employees for any accidents and injuries they may experience while working for you, including any incidents that might take place during site visits.

Employer’s liability insurance can also cover conditions that only emerge after employees leave. For example, if an office-based employee develops RSI after years of working for you, then your employer’s liability insurance may cover any compensation they may be due.

Buildings Insurance

Finally, you may be required to get buildings insurance for your business premises as part of your leasing agreement.

This can cover the costs of repairs following fire, flood, vandalism, break-ins, and other specified insured events.

What Other Insurance Products Do Architects Need?

There are other insurance products that all architects should consider, even if you have no legal obligation to do so:

• Public Liability Insurance – This can cover third parties, such as your clients, tradespeople, and other members of the public, for accidents and injuries they may sustain when interacting with your business in any way. For example, if a client slips or trips during a site visit, public liability insurance can cover any compensation payments and legal fees that may arise.
• Contents Insurance – This can cover your business equipment for loss, damage, or theft. With this insurance in place, you will be covered for repairs and replacements should anything go wrong, either on your business premises, or during a site visit, or while travelling to and from projects.
• Business Interruption Insurance – If a fire, flood, theft, or injury ever prevents you from trading, then business interruption insurance can cover all of your overheads for as long as it takes for you, and your business, to recover.
• Cyber Insurance – Like all businesses, architects should take steps to protect themselves against the risks of cybercrime. In the event of a cyberattack, cyber insurance can cover the costs associated with securing your systems, while also helping you to support any clients that may have been affected by the incident.

Get Dedicated Architects Insurance From James Hallam

James Hallam is an independent Lloyd’s broker with a dedicated team of experienced insurance professionals who care about protecting your architectural business.

We will help you understand the unique risks you face as an architect or design firm, and we will help you get the tailored, comprehensive cover you need for total peace of mind.

Find out how we can help you today.

If you are involved in any kind of publishing, whether it is books, newspapers, magazines, or digital publishing, then you need specialist insurance to cover you for the unique risks you face in your business.

In this post we will outline the key insurance products that publishers should consider, including:

• Professional indemnity insurance
• Public and employers liability insurance
• Buildings and contents insurance
• Cyber insurance

Professional Indemnity Insurance For Publishers

As a publisher, many people will rely on you for your professional advice and expertise. If any of your clients ever experience financial loss having followed your advice, they may make a claim against you. You may also face claims from others with allegations of:

• Negligence
• Errors or omissions
• Copyright infringement
• Breach of contract

In this case, professional indemnity insurance can cover any legal fees, along with any compensation, that may be due. In this way, you can protect yourself against potentially significant losses, along with reputational damages that may arise as a result of the claim.

Public and Employer’s Liability Insurance

Employer’s liability insurance is a legal obligation if you employ any staff. This will cover your employees for any accidents and injuries they may experience while working for you.

Public liability insurance offers similar cover, but for members of the public who may be visiting your premises – whether they are existing or potential clients, tradespeople, delivery drivers, or others.

Public liability can also cover potential damages to third party property outside of the workplace – such as if you accidentally spill coffee on a client’s computer while visiting their premises, or you accidentally injure an attendee at a book launch or other event.

Product liability insurance may also be cover publishers wish to get, which could cover the costs associated with product recalls due to printing errors and other mistakes.

Buildings and Contents Insurance For Publishers

Buildings insurance can cover your business premises for damages caused by fire, theft, flood, vandalism, and more.

Contents insurance can cover your fixtures, fittings, and furniture for such losses, along with the equipment you use to do your job, including your laptops and smartphones.

If an incident such as a fire or a flood temporarily prevents you from operating your publishing business, then business interruption insurance can cover all of your overheads until you are able to get back on your feet.

Cyber Insurance For Publishers

Cybercrime is a real risk for all businesses. A publishing firm might be a prime target for a cyberattack, as cybercriminals know how much sensitive data you store on your systems. Plus, they might think of you as an easy target, as they might think you are unlikely to have taken any steps to secure your systems.

Cyber insurance cannot protect you against a cyberattack, but it can at least help you respond effectively. This specialist insurance can cover all of the costs associated with responding to a data breach, including:

• Recovering your data
• Securing your system
• Notifying any affected third parties

Get Specialist Publishers Insurance From James Hallam

James Hallam is an independent Lloyd’s broker with a dedicated team of experienced insurance professionals who are committed to protecting your publishing business.

We can advise you on all of the risks you face as a professional publisher, and we can help you get the specialist cover you need at a competitive price.

Find out how we can help you today.

Commercial crime insurance will give your business cover for losses that can arise from criminal activity such as theft, forgery, or embezzlement.

What Does Commercial Crime Insurance Cover?

A commercial crime insurance policy may provide cover for all risks, or for named risks. In any case, your policy may provide the following core areas of cover:

• Losses from third party criminal activity including robberies that take place on the business premises, or in transit.
• Fraudulent or dishonest employee activity, including credit fraud, forged cheques, embezzlement, and insider trading.
• Losses arising from receiving counterfeit money, and other forms of third party fraud.

While commercial crime insurance can also cover your business for losses resulting from cyber breaches, data theft, and social engineering attacks, dedicated cyber insurance can offer the most comprehensive cover.

Who Needs Commercial Crime Insurance?

All businesses should consider commercial crime insurance as part of their wider business insurance cover.

Take the time to assess the risks your business faces, including risks that are specific to your sector or industry. If there is the potential to make a significant loss as a result of theft or fraud, then commercial crime insurance could give your business essential cover for such losses.

High Risk Business Requirements

Any business offering financial services may be at a greater risk of insider fraud, and other forms of employee dishonesty. So while financial institutions will need some form of crime insurance cover, they are often required by law to get a specific type of cover known as a fidelity bond.

Fidelity bonds offer highly specific cover for certain forms of employee dishonesty. You can read our full guide to the difference between commercial crime insurance and fidelity bonds.

Understanding the Risks of Commercial Crime

If an opportunistic thief breaks into a shop and lifts some money from the till, the business losses may be significant, but they may be manageable.

But the losses arising from fraud, embezzlement, data breaches, and other forms of commercial crime can be utterly devastating for any business. Along with the financial losses, which could amount to five or six figure sums, your business may also suffer considerable reputational damages.

Consider former high street café chain Patisserie Valerie, for example. Investigations revealed that the company’s finance directors were inflating income while hiding debts. This resulted in the abrupt closure of 70 branches, the loss of 900 jobs, and personal losses of almost £200m for the company’s founder.

Why You Need Commercial Crime Insurance

It is important to note that commercial crime insurance does not itself prevent crime, and that a policy may not provide adequate cover for such an egregious case as this. However, this example demonstrates that:

• Commercial crime can occur in any sector, and is not exclusive to financial institutions.
• No business is too big to fall. If commercial crime can sink such an establishment as Patisserie Valerie, then it could sink your business too.

This is why all businesses and professionals should get comprehensive insurance cover for any potential losses that may arise from criminal activity. Your insurance may not prevent crime from taking place, but it could at least help your business to bounce back from cases of fraud, embezzlement, and theft.

At James Hallam, We Can Help Your Business Get The Cover You Need

James Hallam is an independent Lloyd’s broker with a dedicated team of experienced insurance professionals who care about protecting your business.

We will take the time to get to know you and your business, so that we can advise you on your specific business insurance requirements.  We can then help you get the cover you need for the crime risks your business is facing, whether this means a broad crime insurance policy, a more specific fidelity bonds policy, or a dedicated cyber breach response policy.

Learn more about our professional risks insurance services.

Professional indemnity insurance can cover your business for claims of negligence, or other professional mistakes. It is essential for protecting your business against both financial and reputational damages. But how much professional indemnity cover do you need?

In this post we will discuss some of the factors to consider that will help you determine how much professional indemnity cover is right for you.

What Happens If You Do Not Have Ethe Right Level of Professional Indemnity Cover?

If you do not have enough cover, then you may face financial or legal troubles should anyone ever make a claim against you. But at the same time, you do not want to spend too much on a level of professional indemnity cover you may not ever need.

Factors that Determine How Much Professional Indemnity Cover You Will Need

• Your business. The higher the value of your contacts, the more professional indemnity cover you will need. While a larger client base can increase the size of claims, it is not necessarily the case that bigger businesses will need more cover than smaller businesses. A solo freelance financial consultant may need more cover than a large team operating in a relatively low-risk industry.
• Your industry. Some industries are riskier than others, which means that the cost of claims can be much higher if something goes wrong. In certain industries, such as healthcare and finance, there may also be regulatory requirements determining the level of professional indemnity cover you need.
• Your risk profile and claims history. Your business’s risk profile can push up the cost of claims. Similarly, a history of claims can increase the value of subsequent claims, which may mean you will need a higher level of professional indemnity cover.

How to Calculate How Much Professional Indemnity Cover You Need

• Perform a thorough risk assessment for your business. Pay particular attention to how your services might affect your clients, and on the sort of financial or reputational losses they could face if something goes wrong.
• Refer to the regulatory requirements for your industry. Do they specify any coverage levels?
• Similarly, check your client contracts. Some may require you to have a certain level of professional indemnity cover in place.
• Research the average costs of claims in your sector, and the average level of professional indemnity cover. Small businesses and independent freelancers may need between £500,000 and £1 million professional indemnity cover. But if you work in the legal or financial services, the stakes for your clients will be much higher, so you will need a lot more cover. Potentially, you may need up to £10 million.

We Can Help You Work Out How Much Professional Indemnity Cover You Need

If you are still not sure how much professional indemnity cover you need, we are here to help.

James Hallam is an independent Lloyd’s broker with a dedicated team of experienced insurance professionals who care about protecting your business.

We will take the time to get to know you and your business, so that we can advise you on your specific business insurance and regulatory requirements. We can then help you get the right level of professional indemnity insurance for your business – enough to give you full cover should anything go wrong, but not so much that you end up paying excessively for cover you do not need.

Learn more about our professional risks insurance services.

All businesses and professionals should get insurance cover for any potential losses that may arise from criminal activity. In this post we will outline the differences between two key forms of cover: crime insurance, and fidelity bonds.

What are Fidelity Bonds?

Fidelity bonds may also be referred to as employee dishonesty insurance. Fidelity bonds can cover your business for any losses that may arise as a result of fraudulent or dishonest acts committed by your employees.

For example, if an employee embezzles or steals money from the business, such as through credit fraud or forged cheques, your fidelity bonds can cover your financial losses up to your pre-agreed cover limit.

What is Crime Insurance?

While fidelity bonds offer specific cover for employee dishonesty, crime insurance can provide much broader cover. Like fidelity bonds, crime insurance can cover your business for losses arising from employee fraud. However, a crime insurance policy can provide additional cover for losses that result from third party criminal activity, including robberies and forgeries.

Crime insurance can also provide cover for losses resulting from cyber breaches and data theft – though a dedicated cyber insurance policy can offer the broadest cover here.

The Key Differences Between Fidelity Bonds and Crime Insurance

• Fidelity bonds offer narrow, specific cover for employee dishonesty. Crime insurance provides much broader cover for losses stemming from a wide variety of criminal activity – including criminal acts committed by third parties.
• Fidelity bonds may not cover all losses that arise from employee activity. The insurance may only extend to specified acts of employee dishonesty. This means you will not be covered for losses stemming from poor sales performance, or from business risks that do not pay off.
• In certain regulated sectors, there may be a legal requirement to put fidelity bonds cover in place, as it can provide such a strong deterrent against insider fraud.
• There are often strict reporting requirements and timelines for claims made on fidelity bonds. Crime insurance policies, though, can be a lot more flexible. You may, for example, be able to choose between claims-made or occurrence-based policies, which can result in a more streamlined claims processed.

To sum up, crime insurance policies may include the employee dishonesty cover you would get from fidelity bonds, but fidelity bonds will not provide the broad cover you might get from a crime insurance policy.

Crime Insurance or Fidelity Bonds – Which is Right For My Business?

Some people may use the terms “fidelity bonds” and “crime insurance” interchangeably. But as we have seen, these are two different insurance products offering different levels of cover for your business.

So, which form of cover is right for your business?

You could tailor your crime insurance policy to include some cover for employee dishonesty. However, fidelity bonds can be particularly useful for businesses that offer certain financial and professional services.

If your business handles large amounts of cash, or if you deal with sensitive financial information, you may face an increased risk of insider fraud. In this case, you may need to get dedicated employee dishonesty cover in addition to your broad crime insurance cover.

At James Hallam, We Can Help Your Business Get The Cover You Need

James Hallam is an independent Lloyd’s broker with a dedicated team of experienced insurance professionals who care about protecting your business.

We will take the time to get to know you and your business, so that we can advise you on your specific business insurance requirements.  can advise you on your business insurance and regulatory requirements. We can then help you get the cover you need for the crime risks your business is facing, whether this means a broad crime insurance policy, or a more specific fidelity bonds policy.

Learn more about our professional risks insurance services.

Directors and Officers insurance – also known as D&O insurance – is specialist cover for any claims made against your business’s directors and officers.

What Does Directors and Officers Insurance Cover?

D&O insurance covers legal fees, and any compensation that may be due, for claims made against directors and officers for alleged wrongful acts.

This might include allegations of:

• Neglect
• Error
• Trading offences
• Misleading statements
• Breach of trust or duty
• Data breaches

Real World Examples of D&O Claims

Below are some examples of the sort of situations that might result in allegations of wrongdoing, which would necessitate D&O insurance cover for legal fees and compensation:

Unfair dismissal
An employee may disagree with a dismissal, and may take legal action against the business as a result. In 2016, the CEO of the NYTimes faced a multimillion-dollar class action lawsuit from a number of employees for alleged discriminatory hiring practices.

Breach of trust
If a business’s shareholders or investors believe that a director or officer is not being transparent, they may take legal action to recover their investment. In 2016, the GoPro management faced legal action from their investors, who alleged that the company was misleading them about certain sales figures.

Misappropriation of funds
An unspecified nonprofit organisation received a large donation from a private donor. This donor expected the nonprofit to use the funds to aid impoverished children. Instead, they used the investment to expand their premises. The donor took legal action against the nonprofit’s director and trustees for misappropriation of funds.

Fraud
For years, Enron’s directors and officers engaged in fraudulent accounting practices, which ultimately bankrupted the company. Following extensive lawsuits against the company’s executives, shareholders ultimately received over $7 billion in settlements.

Do I Need D&O Insurance?

If your business has directors and officers, then they may be held personally liable for any alleged wrongdoing. As we have seen, these allegations can come from a range of sources, including shareholders, investors, regulators, employees, and other third parties.

Plus, many D&O insurance claims are for alleged wrongful acts. Even if the director or officer feels that they have acted honestly, and in their company’s best interests, they may still face legal action.

D&O insurance can cover all of the legal fees associated with these claims, along with any compensation that might be due. Without D&O insurance, your business’s directors and officers may be personally liable for covering these expenses. This could compromise their position in the company, which may jeopardise your business as a whole.

What is Not Covered By a D&O Insurance Policy?

Some D&O insurance policies may include cover for employment practices liability as standard. Though some insurers will offer it as an optional extra. This is dedicated cover for claims from your employees for discrimination, such as sexual harassment, unfair dismissal, or failure to promote.

D&O insurance will cover claims made against individual directors and officers for alleged wrongful acts. It will not cover claims made against your business as a whole. For this, you will need additional forms of business insurance, such as employer’s liability cover, public liability cover, or product liability cover.

Dedicated Directors & Officers Insurance Services From James Hallam

James Hallam is an independent Lloyd’s broker with a dedicated team of experienced insurance professionals who care about protecting your business.

We can advise you on your business insurance requirements, and help you find a D&O insurance solution that gives you all the cover you need at the best price.

Learn more about our professional risks insurance services.