Coverage for claims that your professional work caused financial loss.
Designed for certain claims involving mistakes, missed requirements or professional services that a client says caused a loss.
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WHAT IT DOES
E&O covers what you advise, not what you touch.
General liability answers for physical harm. E&O answers for the other kind — the claim that the work itself was wrong, and the client lost money.
01
A client alleges your advice was wrong
02
A project or service fails to meet the agreed requirements
03
An omission causes a client a financial loss
04
You have to defend a professional negligence claim
An E&O policy may respond in each case, subject to the policy wording, limits, exclusions and conditions.
WHAT IT MAY COVER
Common areas of coverage.
Professional Negligence
Allegations that the service or advice you provided fell below the expected standard.
Errors and Omissions
Claims arising from something done incorrectly, or something that should have been done and was not.
Legal Defence Costs
The cost of defending a covered claim, which can be significant even where the allegation is ultimately unsuccessful.
Breach of Professional Duty
Allegations that a duty owed to a client in your professional capacity was not met.
Misrepresentation
Where the policy includes it, certain allegations that information given to a client was inaccurate or misleading.
Contract-Related Allegations
Certain claims tied to what a contract promised, where the policy wording extends to them.
E&O wordings differ more than most, particularly on defence costs and retroactive dates. A broker can confirm a specific policy before you bind.
WHAT IT DOESN’T REPLACE
E&O is about the work. Several neighbouring risks are written elsewhere.
An E&O policy is narrow by design. It answers for the professional service itself, so closely related risks generally sit outside it.
Third-party bodily injury and property damage arising from your premises or operations.
Data breaches, ransomware and the privacy liability that follows them.
Damage to your own building, equipment, stock and contents.
Directors and Officers
Claims against individual directors and officers about how the organisation is run.
Crime
Employee dishonesty, funds transfer fraud and theft of money or securities.
Vehicles owned, leased or used by the business.
General distinctions only, not a statement of what a particular policy does. A broker can review the wording with you.
WHO COMMONLY NEEDS IT
The operations that most often carry an E&O policy.
E&O comes up wherever a client pays for judgement, design or expertise. These are the HIFA industry pages where it comes up most often.
NOT SURE WHERE YOU FIT?
A broker can read the contract before you sign it.
Tell us what you deliver and what your client agreements promise. A commercial broker can review the risk and the wording with you before you approach the market.
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REAL CLAIM EXAMPLES
Two situations worth thinking through in advance.
Advice Dispute
A client alleges that recommendations made during an engagement were inadequate, and that the business lost money acting on them.
An E&O policy may respond to covered professional negligence allegations and to the cost of defending them, subject to the limits, exclusions and conditions in the policy.
Service Error
An error in a delivered system requires a client to pay for remediation work, and the client seeks to recover that cost.
An E&O policy may respond to certain claims of this kind. Whether it does depends on how the error arose, what the policy excludes, and the retroactive date and wording that apply.
Illustrative example
Illustrative only. These are not statements of coverage. Every claim is assessed on its own facts against the policy in force.
WHAT AFFECTS THE PRICE
Two firms offering similar services can price very differently.
THE PRACTICE
Profession and service type
Industries you serve
Contract size and structure
Use of subcontractors
U.S. or international work
THE NUMBERS
Annual revenue
Requested limits
Deductible
Claims and circumstance history
Retroactive date and continuity of cover
A broker can tell you which of these is driving your number, and whether your limits match your contracts.
WHAT WE’LL ASK YOU
The questions that change the policy.
01
What professional services do you actually provide?
02
What is the largest contract you sign?
03
What industries do your clients operate in?
04
Do you use subcontractors, and who carries their E&O?
05
Do you do work for U.S. clients?
06
Have there been E&O claims, disputes or circumstances in the last five years?
Common questions
What owners ask about E&O.
How is E&O different from CGL?
What does 'Claims-Made' mean?
If I am retired, can I still be sued for past work?
Do I need E&O if I have an LLC or Corporation?
Will this cover disputes over my fees?
What is a retroactive date, and why does it matter?
READY TO TALK?
Let’s make sure the coverage matches what you actually promise clients.
Tell us what you deliver, who you deliver it to and what your contracts require. A commercial broker can review the risk before approaching insurers.
Want to talk now?