One of my clients, with whom I am contracting, has asked for a copy of my full indemnity and liability policy documents.
Is this a reasonable request, or should I just provide the headline details?
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3 Answers
This is normal in the UK freelancing market and I am used to having to provide these as part of the onboarding process. The full details are not always asked for as some just want to see cover exists, but personally I wouldn't be unhappy to provide the full documents as they are pretty standard for most providers and freelancers.
As @Daniel notes it is normal that you would not have the funds to cover the extent of professional liability, so it is entirely normal to have indemnity insurance for this.
If you work through a limited company then the maximum that could be recovered from the company is the value of its assets if sued for liability which is normally far less than the amounts covered by professional liability insurance but could well end up with the company being wound up by the courts.
Under UK law if in a non-limited liability partnership or as a sole trader that is self employed a client could be able to claim against your assets as well as any company assets which is a good reason to use the limited company or limited liability forms of partnership as well as having the insurance.
As it can be expected that you do not have the private funds to cover the extend of your professional liability, this is actually quite normal and reasonable. I used to limit my liability to the amount covert by my insurance and guarantee the client that such an insurance was existent in my standard contract.
Great advertising also: "A limited liability company may just go bankrupt, but if make a mistake, I have a big insurance company backing me up with 2 million €!"
If the client wished to increase liability, I´d also offer that, but just factor in the increased insurance cost into my hourly rate.
I'd say that you should be careful about sending the full document. An unscrupulous client may be trying to figure out how to get a free paycheck. Turn over this type of information on a specific need-to-know basis.
