Business insurance for consulting & professional services
Protect your consulting business with insurance that fits
Whether you advise as a management consultant, run a marketing agency or deliver IT services, your work carries specific risks that business insurance is designed to cover. Discover professional indemnity and public liability cover built for consultants and agencies in Ireland.
Business insurance, done differently.
Fully online business insurance in Ireland.
A few questions and you're covered.
No lock-in, no long contracts.
Excess from €0, up to €6.5 million of cover.
Our insurance is for
Why business insurance is essential in consulting and professional services
In consulting and professional services, clients act on what you tell them. From a strategy recommendation to a systems rollout on a client's site, these activities share common exposures:
Advice or work that turns out wrong: an unsuitable strategy, a flawed market analysis, or an IT recommendation that leaves a client with extra costs or lost revenue.
Confidentiality and data: confidential information or personal data disclosed by accident.
Intellectual property: content used without permission, or unintentional plagiarism in your materials.
Damage at a client's premises: accidents or damage you accidentally cause while working on site.
Professional Indemnity covers the financial loss a client suffers because of a mistake, an omission or poor advice in your work. Public Liability covers injury or damage you cause to clients or other third parties. The page for your profession sets out which of the two applies.
What is Public Liability insurance?
How does it work: If a third party, like a client or a member of the public, holds you responsible for an injury or for damage to their property, Public Liability insurance takes care of your defence costs and any compensation due.
What does it cover: Injury or property damage caused to others in the course of your work. You choose a cover limit of €1.25 million, €2.5 million or €6.5 million per claim. Optional cover can be added: Employers' Liability (€13 million per claim) if you have staff.
Cover that fits your profession: You describe your activities fully at sign-up, and your cover matches what you actually do: from client meetings and on-site workshops to events, seminars and business trips.
Your excess: The amount you pay yourself towards a claim. The options are €0, €250, €500, €1,000 and €2,500, with €0 and €250 available up to €500,000 annual revenue; above that the minimum is €500.
Is it mandatory: Public liability isn't required by law in Ireland. In practice, clients, landlords and venues often require it before you can work on site or rent office space. Cover starts from €7.55 per month.
Who needs it: Any consulting or services business that meets clients, works on their premises or hosts events, where accidental injury or damage to third parties is a real risk.
What is Professional Indemnity insurance?
Professional Indemnity covers the purely financial loss a client suffers because of a mistake in your professional work: wrong advice, a miscalculation, a missed detail, or an error in something you delivered. It doesn't cover injury or damage to property, that is Public Liability.
What counts as a professional mistake: Wrong strategic advice, a flawed market analysis, an error in a deliverable you provide, or a recommendation that turns out to be wrong and costs your client money.
Who is it for: People whose work is advice, expertise or deliverables rather than hands-on work: management consultants, marketing agencies and IT consultants.
How does the cover respond: It's written on a claims-made basis: the claim must be made and reported to us while your policy runs. If you switch to us from another insurer, work from up to 5 years back is covered, provided your previous policy would have covered the claim. Leaving? Claims about work done while you were insured must be reported before your policy ends, unless run-off cover is arranged.
Cover that fits your profession: You select your activities when you apply, so the policy and its exclusions match what you actually advise on and deliver. Keep in mind that promising or guaranteeing results is excluded. You choose a cover limit from €125,000 up to €1.25 million per claim, and up to twice that per insurance year.
Is it mandatory: Professional indemnity isn't required by law in Ireland, though some regulators and professional bodies require it and many clients make it a contractual condition. Cover starts from €10.80 per month.
Which cover do you need?
Most businesses are exposed to both. One covers injury and damage, the other financial loss from your work. You can combine them in one Insify policy. Cover limits, excess and exclusions apply. See the policy wording.
Public Liability insurance
Covers claims when your work injures someone or damages something that belongs to them. For example, someone trips over your equipment, or you damage a floor while working at a client's premises.
- Choose your cover: from €1.25 million up to €6.5 million per claim, and up to twice that per insurance year
- Excess from €0, depending on your turnover
- Staff? Add optional Employers' Liability with €13 million cover per claim
- Most relevant when your work brings you into contact with clients, the public, their premises or their belongings
Professional Indemnity insurance
Covers purely financial loss a client suffers through a professional mistake, oversight or wrong advice, with no injury or property damage involved. Think of work a client claims was unfit for purpose and cost them money.
- Choose your cover: from €125,000 up to €1.25 million per claim, and up to twice that per insurance year
- Excess from €0, depending on your turnover
- Most relevant when clients pay you for advice, programmes and plans
What's covered
Advisory services
Strategy & Organisational consulting
Change management
IT consulting
Marketing consulting, market research and opinion polling
Human resource consulting and recruiting
Auditing and certifying
Interim management within the covered activities
Placing your own staff with a client temporarily, for example through an employment or secondment agency, within the activities covered
Organising and running company events, seminars and training courses
Business trips, whether you are attending or running them
Using land, buildings or premises for the work covered
A contractual clause increasing liability (such as a fine, indemnity, warranty, performance commitment)
Promising or guaranteeing results (such as yields, profitability and the like)
Infringement of any patent
Financial services (such as brokerage and/or sale of insurance and/or investment products)
Organisation or hosting of prize draws, lotteries or other games of chance
Predictions or calculations with regard to promised coupons, discounts or other prizes in advertising
Operating of social media websites (i.e. websites where users can create and/or share content such as text posts, comments, images, videos, music, podcasts)
M&A and/or due diligence if the corresponding revenue exceeded € 250,000 in the past financial year
Cover and exclusions shown are indicative and non-contractual. Only the terms of your policy apply.
Some examples
A marketing consultant launched a campaign with the wrong pricing for a client's product. The client claimed the lost revenue, and professional indemnity covered the compensation and legal costs.
A management consultant's restructuring advice was based on a flawed analysis of the client's cost base, and the client claimed for the losses that followed. Professional indemnity covered the compensation.
During an on-site workshop a consultant knocked a projector off a table, destroying it and damaging the client's laptop. The damage to third-party property was covered by public liability.
A marketing consultant launched a campaign with the wrong pricing for a client's product. The client claimed the lost revenue, and professional indemnity covered the compensation and legal costs.
A management consultant's restructuring advice was based on a flawed analysis of the client's cost base, and the client claimed for the losses that followed. Professional indemnity covered the compensation.
During an on-site workshop a consultant knocked a projector off a table, destroying it and damaging the client's laptop. The damage to third-party property was covered by public liability.
Examples are for illustrative purposes only. Compensation depends on the exact circumstances of the claim. No rights can be derived from these examples.
Your business insurance with Insify SmartGuide
Taking out insurance can be quick. Making sure you have the right cover is another matter. With Insify SmartGuide, you don't sign a contract blindly. You ask all your questions, and get clear, immediate and personalised answers, before you take out a policy.
Are you covered if you accidentally damage a client's equipment while working?
What excess should you choose?
Are you protected in the event of a dispute with a client?
Insify SmartGuide guides you step by step to understand what's covered, what isn't, and why. In just a few clicks, you build insurance that's truly tailored to your business, with complete confidence. Try Insify SmartGuide. Understand your insurance before you need it.
More than 40,000 entrepreneurs trust us
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
The cover itself was sorted quickly, and when I later needed support I got that fast too.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
The cover itself was sorted quickly, and when I later needed support I got that fast too.
Frequently Asked Questions
Professional Indemnity covers purely financial loss caused by your professional advice or services: a flawed recommendation, an error in your analysis, or a mistake in something you delivered. Public Liability covers injury or damage you accidentally cause to clients and other third parties: you knock over a client's equipment, or someone is injured visiting your office. For consulting professions, professional indemnity is usually the essential cover, since your main risk is the impact of your advice, while public liability protects you around meetings, workshops and client visits. If you're unsure, describe your activity at sign-up and you'll be guided to the cover that fits.
Neither professional indemnity nor public liability is required by law in Ireland. Some regulators and professional bodies do require professional indemnity, and many clients make it a contractual condition before they will sign with a consultant. Public liability is often required in practice by clients, landlords and venues before you can work on site or rent office space. So while the law may not force you to insure, the market you work in usually will.
Not by law. In consulting it is close to unavoidable commercially: most corporate and public sector clients write it into the contract, and some professional bodies require it of their members. If you tender for public sector work, expect professional indemnity of €1 million to €2 million to be specified.
Claims over professional errors are the most common risk in consulting. If a client holds you responsible for a purely financial loss caused by your advice or services, professional indemnity cover responds to the claim where you are found legally liable, including the legal costs of defending it. Note that a delay on its own is not typically what the cover responds to, it is the error in the work itself. Report the matter as soon as a client signals a problem so the claim can be handled quickly. Good records (the brief, your recommendations, what was agreed and when) make the process far smoother.
Yes, this is exactly what public liability is for. If you accidentally damage a client's property or injure someone in the course of your work, whether at their premises, at yours or at an off-site meeting, the cover responds to compensation claims where your business is legally liable. Describe your activity fully at sign-up so your cover matches how and where you actually work.
Yes. Your premium and cover are based on your business's real profile: the actual premium depends on your activity, turnover, cover amount and excess (the amount you pay yourself towards a claim). The excess options are €0, €250, €500, €1,000 and €2,500, with €0 and €250 available up to €500,000 annual revenue; above that the minimum is €500. That means a self-employed consultant is not priced like an agency with staff. Declare your turnover accurately at sign-up so your cover matches reality.
Professional Indemnity cover starts from €10.80 per month and Public Liability from €7.55 per month, both including taxes. The actual premium depends on your activity, turnover, cover amount and excess, so a freelance marketing consultant and an established consultancy will not pay the same. You see your price online in minutes, with no obligation.