Liability insurance for a self-employed copywriter
A copywriter rarely causes physical damage. That is precisely why the main question is not what the AVB covers, but where the line runs with the loss your work can indeed cause.
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In brief
Public and employers' liability insurance (AVB) covers injury and property damage. For a self-employed copywriter that is a narrow but real risk: you regularly work at clients' premises, in meeting rooms and at locations where you conduct interviews or gather a brand story. A mug knocked over onto a keyboard, a laptop pulled off the table by your cable, a visitor who falls over your bag: those are the claims this policy pays.
The loss your text causes falls precisely outside it. An error in a price statement that means a print run has to be reprinted, a claim that cannot be substantiated and leads to a corrective campaign, a text delivered too late for a product launch: for that, pure financial loss. For that, a professional indemnity insurance is the appropriate product. Many clients now require it alongside the AVB.
Two other risks are not automatically covered on either policy. Infringement of copyright: a passage taken from elsewhere, an image without a licence, a brand name in a slogan: is a separate exclusion with virtually all liability insurers. And costs after a data breach involving customer data you had in a file belong on a cyber insurance. Limit your exposure further with clear terms and conditions and a written sign-off round for each text.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
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What writing runs up against
Four points that determine the question of cover for a self-employed copywriter.
The AVB covers the surroundings, not the text
Everything you cause physically at a client's premises falls under the AVB: damaged equipment, a screen knocked over, injury to an employee. Everything arising from the content of your work falls outside it, because no property is damaged and no one is injured. That distinction (injury and damage to property as against financial loss) is the main dividing line in your insurance package.
Equipment placed in your keeping
If you are given a laptop, phone or camera by the client, that item is in your in your care and the care, custody and control exclusion applies: damage to it is not covered. The same arises with borrowed recording equipment for interviews. When borrowing, record in writing who bears the risk, or ask for a care, custody and control clause on your policy.
Correction and reprint costs
An error discovered only after printing or after going live leads to a reprint, a rebuild or a corrective edition. That is financial loss and therefore not an AVB loss. Limit the risk by contract: have the client sign off the final version in writing and set out in your conditions that proofing and final checking lie with them.
Rights and use of images
If you supply text with images, or take passages from other material, you risk a claim for infringement of intellectual property. Liability insurers almost always exclude that. Work with licences in your own name, keep the evidence with the project and agree who acquires the rights to the end result; record that in the order confirmation.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover: the usual basis for a sole trader
- Working on site at clients' premises: determines the actual risk of damage to property
- Type of clients: large brands impose heavier contract requirements
- Combined cover with a BAV: a package is usually clearer than separate policies
- Area of cover: international clients call for wider cover
- Sum insured and excess: per claim and per insurance year
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| You catch a picture frame off the wall in the client's hallway with your laptop bag | Yes | No |
| During an interview in a factory you knock a measuring instrument off the workbench | Yes | No |
| A visitor trips over the cable of your projector during a writing workshop at the customer's premises | Yes | No |
| An interviewee demands a correction because you quoted his statements incorrectly | No | Provided that |
| A reader says your marketing text made him buy the wrong product | No | Provided that |
| The customer demands your fee back because in the end he did not use the web copy | No | No |
Repaying your own fee is not an insured loss on either policy.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Do I really need an AVB as a copywriter?
That depends on how you work. If you write exclusively from home and never visit customers, the risk is small. If you work on location, conduct interviews or attend shoots and events, the chance of damage to property is real and clients often ask for it. Many self-employed people combine the AVB with professional indemnity insurance in one package.
My text contains an error and the customer loses turnover. What covers that?
Not public and employers' liability insurance, because there is no injury and no damaged property. A claim of that kind is pure financial loss and belongs on professional indemnity insurance. Note that deliberately incorrect information is outside cover on that policy as well: Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code keeps loss caused deliberately or recklessly from being paid.
Does my personal liability insurance not cover my work?
No. Personal liability insurance (AVP) excludes damage you cause in the exercise of a profession or business. If you work as a self-employed person, virtually everything you do during an assignment falls under that, even if you are at home or in a cafe. For business work you need separate public and employers' liability insurance.
What if a claim only comes in after my assignment has ended?
The basis of cover is then decisive. A claims-made policy looks at the moment the claim is brought, a loss-occurrence policy at the moment of the incident. If you stop trading or change insurer, ask about run-in and run-off cover. Always report a claim straight away. That follows from Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
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