PI/PL Insurance - how long would you keep it on

[malvolio]

There was a one sometime ago blah blah...

Incidentally, as I was told a while back, the idea is to get proper representation to cut off the claim at the outset so the case never gets to court. Since they are quite successful at it, there aren't that many reportable examples out there.

[Paralytic]

There was a one sometime ago where the contractor was supposed to create a reliable long-term backup regime for the client's data. When the disaster happened and they needed to use the backups in anger, they discovered that while he had secured all the data, he hadn't secured the schemas that described that data to the database(s). He was sued for the costs of the recovery effort and to correct his original error. Randell Dorling and QDOS have both mentioned other cases.

It is unlikely for the average coder writing non-critical business software, for example, (about 98% of them) or people in routine BaU operations. If you are into safety critical systems, for example, or reorganising departments or anything else sitting on the business's critical path, the risk is real. That's why it's in the contract.

This doesn't really back up your "wrong, but hey" response in reply earlier. In fact, I'd say it is tacit acceptance that, for the majority, there is no need to extend PI/PL insurance beyond the scope of a contract.

And "there was one sometime ago..." isn't a specific report of a claim (notwithstanding your valid statement that the existence of such insurances may mean claims not becoming public). I'd not trust an non-specific comments from companies that are trying to sell insurances insurances either.

[malvolio]

This doesn't really back up your "wrong, but hey" response in reply earlier. In fact, I'd say it is tacit acceptance that, for the majority, there is no need to extend PI/PL insurance beyond the scope of a contract.

And "there was one sometime ago..." isn't a specific report of a claim (notwithstanding your valid statement that the existence of such insurances may mean claims not becoming public). I'd not trust an non-specific comments from companies that are trying to sell insurances insurances either.

It's as much of an answer as is available. You're not the first to ask that question. GoT's answer is not his first either and its still wrong.

That's "wrong" as in "incorrect" and "but hey" as in the chances of needing it are nearly but not zero.

HTH...

[Paralytic]

It's as much of an answer as is available. You're not the first to ask that question. GoT's answer is not his first either and its still wrong.

That's "wrong" as in "incorrect" and "but hey" as in the chances of needing it are nearly but not zero.

HTH...

I never asked the question.

HTH...

OP, If I were you, unless you have worked in a high risk business, I'd not bother renewing.

[malvolio]

I never asked the question.

But you were the one that questioned the validity of the answer I gave and the other similar responses. Tant pis...

And you are now also wrong, although, as I also said, the risk is pretty minimal.

[Wobblyheed]

Since no one ever has claimed against this for a contractor ever (yes scare stories from insurance providers with no backup)

immediately is the answer

Agreed...utter waste of money

[Lance]

I don't know if anyone else has had this situation, but suppose you've had PI/PL insurance while working through a limited company, and it's not relevant anymore because you either now work through an umbrella company (that provide it as part of the package) or maybe you 've gone permanent.

So do you stop the insurance right away or keep it on via some kind of run off cover to provide coverage for work performed in the past.

I think it'd be a bit over the top do to that for a very long period, particularly if the last contract it applied to was eg 5 years ago.

I just wondered if anyone else had thought about this.

for me it depends.

For PI....
If I was going to go contracting again I'd keep the company and the insurance (it's not expensive).
If I wasn't going back I'd close the company, and that would mean no insurance is required.

As for PL. You know if you've done something that could result in a claim. And most contracts don't require PL as the client has the liability for public claims in almost all cases.