Counselling professional insurance to protect your business
The number of professional counsellors and psychotherapists working privately in the UK is on the rise, and all provide a vital and personal service to their respective clients. Using their skills a trained counsellor can build up a close and valuable relationship with the client to help them see things more clearly. Over time this relationship may become highly trusting, but mistakes can be made and sometimes these can lead to disputes and even legal action. This is why many people operating in the sector choose counselling professional insurance by way of a safety net.
Counselling professional insurance will usually involve some kind of indemnity cover and may even include public liability insurance. The aim of this type of protection is to help out if someone faces legal action, i.e. being sued, because of a real or perceived mistake made in the general conduct of their business.
The Insurance works in a straightforward way by paying legal fees, up to certain pre-agreed limits, which may be run up during the defence of such an action. Hiring legal help is rarely a cheap prospect, and could even lead to serious financial difficulty for some individuals and companies, which is why some choose not to take the risk and instead seek out an insurance policy.
Besides straightforward mistakes, this type of counselling professional insurance will also usually cover things like loss of someone’s important documents, the accidental breach of confidentiality, any possible breach of copyright which is unintentional and will even cover someone against a defamation action.
The main decision which someone will have to make relates to how much cover they want to take out. A policy will not pay out indefinitely and will not meet an unlimited amount of legal cost. For example, policies are available up to a certain pre-agreed limit, say £80,000 worth of legal expenses, while others go all the way up to millions of pounds. It is also important to remember that insurance cover of this type will not only cover legal fees but also any compensation which is awarded to a complainant, again up to certain limits.
According to the Counsellor’s Handbook, the BAC code of ethics and practice for Counsellors says they should consider the need for a professional indemnity insurance policy and should also take out “adequate” cover where appropriate. 1* This suggests that counselling professional insurance could be considered by anybody looking to work in the industry on a professional basis. However, this does not mean that someone should rush into the first policy which is offered to them. A professional company must consider the right level of cover, and those working on behalf of the NHS may already have some kind policy in place-always check to see what policy, if any, applies to you.
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