If you’re involved in photography or videography, you may not have considered professional indemnity insurance. The truth is, however, that it could be an essential piece of financial protection that you’re missing. But what is it, and why do you need it?

What is professional indemnity insurance?

Professional indemnity insurance exists to protect you in the event that a claim is made against you for what could be perceived as a professional mistake or disagreement on service quality. This is why it’s so essential to consider cover when you’re a photographer or videographer, as your client’s opinion of your work is the defining factor of your business success.

What kind of thing does professional indemnity insurance cover?

Professional indemnity insurance can protect against the cost of a broad range of things, including:

  • Defamation perpetrated by yourself or an employee working under your direction
  • A disagreement around final quality relating to photographs or video services rendered
  • The inability to provide agreed-upon items as a result of hardware, software, or accessory crash
  • Professional negligence leading to a mistake or poor quality advice being administered
  • Breach of confidence if you intentionally or inadvertently share confidential client information
  • Unintentional breach of copyright in any photograph or video content you produce on a professional basis

This is far from an exhaustive list of all potential issues, but it should serve to give you an idea of the kind of situations in which professional indemnity insurance could be valuable. Consider, for example, a scenario where you have a memory card that gets corrupted, causing a married couple to lose all of their wedding photos. Your cover would help you with the costs of compensation or restaging the shoots.

You don’t even need to make a mistake in order to call upon professional indemnity cover. It could simply be the case that your client doesn’t think your work is good enough. In this situation, your cover would help meet the costs of re-shooting the work to meet their expectations.

Remember that claims can run into thousands of pounds before you know it. Claims for damages, combined with legal costs and court fees, can quickly cripple your finances if you have to meet those costs by yourself. This is why for many professional photographers and videographers, professional indemnity insurance becomes a truly invaluable investment as it can help ensure your business stays afloat even when you’re hit with an unexpected claim.

Arrange the cover you need today

If you’re a professional photographer or videographer, operating without professional indemnity insurance means taking a considerable risk. If you encounter an unsatisfied client or you inadvertently make a professional mistake, it could potentially cost you a serious amount of money. Professional indemnity insurance exists to protect you against that.

Remember that taking out insurance cover doesn’t suggest you’re not professional or that you’re not good at what you do. It’s just that you can’t always please everyone, and sometimes people make mistakes or disagree. There’s nothing you can do about that. What you can do, however, is to protect yourself and your business’s finances from the potential fallout.

For more information, or to get a professional indemnity insurance quote, contact our insurance experts today.

Frequently asked questions

Is professional indemnity insurance a legal requirement?

It isn’t compulsory from a legal perspective, although it’s still highly recommended, and most professional photography and videography trade bodies require members to hold professional indemnity insurance. Given the risk presented to your business’s finances if a claim is made against you, many business owners choose to treat professional indemnity insurance as a necessary investment.

Do photographers and videographers need special consideration?

As your business is dependent on the satisfaction of your clients, and that is largely down to personal and subjective opinion, then yes. Getting a policy through us ensures that you’ll receive bespoke cover tailored to your specific business needs from experts who understand your work.

Can I let my insurance lapse when I retire or close my business?

Technically yes, but it’s important to remember that former clients can still bring claims against you for work you did years ago. In this case, we offer special “run-off” cover, which takes into account the fact that you’re not trading anymore but will still provide you with cover in the event that an old client makes a retroactive claim.

Is professional indemnity insurance expensive?

It depends on the way you structure your policy and how much cover you want to take out. When you consider how much a potential claim could run to, however, cover begins to seem a lot more affordable in context.

Does it take a long time to arrange cover?

The process of arranging cover shouldn’t take very long if you take out a policy with us. As specialists in photography and videography insurance, we understand your needs and requirements, and our specialist team can usually arrange cover for you on the same day.