What PI insurance for first contract?

[djj]

Hello all,

I was not expecting it (had brain freeze on techincal assessment) but managed to land myself my first IT contract which starts early next week.
After mainly looking at permanent roles I came across this contract and now here I am trying to organise everything that needs to be organised by someone who has never done this before.
At the moment the agency is asking for all sorts of information before the contract can be issued. I am in the process of signing up with an umbrella company (one of the ones listed by this website) but the agency has asked for PI information. Well I know what it stands for and the basics why I need it now with this type of employment, but I am not sure what exactly I need from a policy.
My contract position is working for a large outsourcing company providing technical server support.
If anyone out there could provide some pointers I would be ever so grateful.

Regards

[MiniMani]

Hello all,

I was not expecting it (had brain freeze on techincal assessment) but managed to land myself my first IT contract which starts early next week.
After mainly looking at permanent roles I came across this contract and now here I am trying to organise everything that needs to be organised by someone who has never done this before.
At the moment the agency is asking for all sorts of information before the contract can be issued. I am in the process of signing up with an umbrella company (one of the ones listed by this website) but the agency has asked for PI information. Well I know what it stands for and the basics why I need it now with this type of employment, but I am not sure what exactly I need from a policy.
My contract position is working for a large outsourcing company providing technical server support.
If anyone out there could provide some pointers I would be ever so grateful.

Regards

I got mine from QDOSconsulting.com/ You can get a package that has PI insurance EL and PL too...

[Qdos Contractor]

Hello all,

I was not expecting it (had brain freeze on techincal assessment) but managed to land myself my first IT contract which starts early next week.
After mainly looking at permanent roles I came across this contract and now here I am trying to organise everything that needs to be organised by someone who has never done this before.
At the moment the agency is asking for all sorts of information before the contract can be issued. I am in the process of signing up with an umbrella company (one of the ones listed by this website) but the agency has asked for PI information. Well I know what it stands for and the basics why I need it now with this type of employment, but I am not sure what exactly I need from a policy.
My contract position is working for a large outsourcing company providing technical server support.
If anyone out there could provide some pointers I would be ever so grateful.

Regards

Most umbrellas will provide PI insurance as part of their package, so that should satisfy your agency. £1m cover is pretty standard, so just double check that the umbrella does offer it and send confirmation to the agency.

[Wanderer]

I am in the process of signing up with an umbrella company (one of the ones listed by this website) but the agency has asked for PI information.

Hang on a second, does your Umbrella have PI insurance that covers you? Many umbrellas do this (as you are their employee) so I think you might find that they do so your problem is solved and the umbrella will produce a certificate of insurance that you can send to the agency...

Welcome to contracting! Have a read of the links on the right while you're here, there is a mine of information there too. I don't know which umbrella you are working through but watch out for any one that offers a take home pay which is suspiciously high. There is a calculator here that you can use to work out your tax bill. Any umbrella that offers a return better than what the calculator shows, is based in another country or talks about loans, trusts, schemes or is vague about how they work and points out that they are backed up by "a legal opinion from a leading tax lawyer" should be treated with caution.

Once you get established with contracting and if it looks like you will be contracting for a while then consider setting up a limited company so you can reduce your tax to 20-30% rather than 40% to 50% through the umbrella.

[djj]

Thanks to everyone who responded so quickly to my query.
I am looking to sign up with ContractorUmbrella.com - I don't think they have PI as part of their package (will speak to account manager next week) but they do recommend a company on their website - it was talking about EL & PL but I was not sure whether I needed both?
I will speak to them next week and explain my situation and see what they say.
Hopefully if this contract goes well I might set up a company to reduce my tax even further for future contracts - thanks Wanderer.
Again my thanks to everyone - great site!
Cheers.
djj