Some of the less well-known benefits of computer contractor professional indemnity cover
While many businesses have a form of professional indemnity cover in place, many may be not fully aware of the options on their policy and exactly what it can do for them. Typically a policy goes beyond simply covering any legal bills which arise from mistakes made on a job. They can be used to cover different vulnerable time frames and can even include extra types of insurance. Computer contractor professional indemnity cover will often be no different and will also be quite flexible depending on the insurer.
While a typical professional indemnity policy protects against legal bills including compensation following mistakes or acts of negligence, many cover providers can provide a level of public liability insurance with their deal. This could be useful for computer contractors who have recently started to regularly work in the public domain or who have taken on a premises which is regularly used and visited by the public.
Many people often also associate computer contractor professional indemnity cover with wiped hard drives and broken networks, but it can also pay out if the policyholder is accused of accidentally breaching copyright or confidence. An intellectual property infringement could occur if an IT contractor hired to produce a website accidentally reproduces one which is identical or could be perceived to be identical to one which is already in existence and was produced by a rival firm.
Professional indemnity insurance also often pays out if the policyholder is accused of defaming somebody through libel, a potential danger when it comes to Internet publishing, and which can also be useful for some computer contractors.
Other common options include what is known as retroactive cover. This is a useful tool which allows the policyholder protection for legal claims which are lodged with them in future but which relate to something which happened in the past, so long ago that it applies to a period before they even took out the cover. Of course, for this to apply, the policyholder must not have had any notification that a notice might be imminent before they took out the policy.
There is also runoff cover, which can be arranged to provide protection for a firm after it has stopped trading or while it is inbetween insurers. An extra period of protection can simply be attached at the end of a policy, which can be helpful for a computer consultancy which is worried about the possibility of any claims arising after it has wound down. Just because a firm has decided to swap insurers for a time or because an individual is thinking of retiring does not mean that they will be immune to legal action relating to something which happened in the past.
Computer contractor professional indemnity cover can therefore be more flexible than many first believe – it can also include an excess, as with a common car insurance policy, which can be of use to anyone looking to bring down the cost of their premium.
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