Insurance as a self-employed professional: what differs from being an employee
Anyone starting out on their own loses two things at once: continued pay during sickness and the employer who is liable if something happens. That difference determines which insurance really matters for a self-employed person.
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In brief
In employment the employer continues to pay wages during sickness and the social insurance schemes absorb long-term incapacity. As a self-employed person you do not have that: your turnover stops on the day you can no longer work, while your fixed costs continue. That is why for self-employed people disability insurance often comes before any liability policy. It is important to know beforehand: an AOV has a deferment period before the benefit starts, and complaints already existing at the outset are excluded or limited by a clause.
The second shift concerns injury. An employee injured on a building site holds their employer liable under Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code. A self-employed person has no such employer. If you work under a client's direction and at their site, subsection 4 of that article can sometimes offer you protection, but that is an argument after the event with an uncertain outcome. The only certainty is what you have arranged yourself: your own injury is never covered on a liability policy, because that covers other people's losses.
The third shift is in the contract. You negotiate your own terms and the liability you accept. A limitation of liability in your own terms and conditions only works if you hand those terms over before or when the contract is concluded; Articles 6:233 and 6:234 of the Dutch Civil Code impose that requirement. If, on the other hand, you sign the client's purchasing conditions, you often take on wider liability than the law imposes, and that part is insured on no policy.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare personal liability insurance (AVP).
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What to look out for
Four differences that only become visible when something goes wrong.
No separation between business and private
With a sole trader business or a general partnership, you are liable with your your entire assets are liable. A claim exceeding the cover reaches your savings and, in the extreme, your home. That makes the choice of sum insured not a question of premium but of appetite for risk, particularly for work in occupied buildings or on existing installations.
Clients set requirements for your policy
Main contractors and buyers ask for proof of insurance, a minimum sum insured and sometimes a specific description of the activities. If your policy does not meet those, the job does not go ahead. Have contract requirements translated into cover before you sign, because a policy can only be amended forwards.
As soon as you bring someone in, your position changes
If you hire in a fellow self-employed professional or take someone along, you become hirer with a duty of care under Article 7:658(4) of the Dutch Civil Code, and you are liable for the mistakes of the person you engage. That is a different risk from working alone and it has to appear on the policy, with the accompanying payroll or hired-in labour declaration.
No collective arrangements behind you
There is no collective legal expenses cover, no group personal accident cover and no in-house lawyer. If an invoice goes unpaid or a dispute arises about completion, you carry the cost of proceedings yourself. legal expenses insurance for self-employed professionals fills that gap, with the caveat that ongoing conflicts and disputes arising within the waiting period are excluded.
What does your premium depend on?
- Profession and activities: decisive for both liability and an AOV
- Age and health: relevant only for income and personal accident cover
- Annual turnover: the basis for liability insurance
- Hiring others in: adds employers' liability
- Sum insured: often prescribed by your client
- Deferment period: on an AOV the strongest lever on the premium
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| You drop a glass table at a client's premises while working | Yes | No |
| A visitor trips over material you had left in the hallway | Yes | No |
| A calculation error in your advice costs the client part of their grant | No | Yes |
| You deliver a design late and the client misses their deadline as a result | No | Provided that |
| The client's laptop, which you temporarily had in your custody, falls off a table | No | No |
| You redo your work because the result was not right | No | No |
If you work both with your hands and by advising, you need the two covers alongside each other.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
As a self-employed professional, am I required to have insurance?
Only for a motor vehicle, under Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM), and for health insurance. Liability and income are not compulsory by law. When it comes to it liability insurance is a condition of getting work, and a few regulated professions have their own requirement through their professional body.
My client says I am covered by their insurance. Is that right?
Rarely in the way intended. A client's policy covers their own liability, not yours as an independent business. Sometimes you are included as a subcontractor on a project policy, but that then applies only to that project and often only to certain types of loss. Ask for the policy and have it assessed before you rely on it.
I am injured myself at a client's workplace. Who pays my income?
Not your own liability insurance, because that covers other people's losses. You may be able to hold the client liable under Article 7:658(4) of the Dutch Civil Code if you were working under their direction, but that takes time and the outcome is uncertain. Disability insurance or personal accident cover pays out whoever is at fault.
Do my terms and conditions help against a claim?
They can limit your liability, but only if they have been declared applicable to the contract and handed over in good time. A reference on the invoice afterwards is too late. Moreover, no limitation stands up in the case of a deliberate act or wilful recklessness. Your insurance excludes those too, under Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
- Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB)The main page
- Liability insurance for a self-employed concrete workerHiring in, fixing and pouring, your own injury
- Liability insurance for a self-employed electricianSubcontracting, your own injury, care, custody and control
- Compare liability insurance for the self-employedPrivate assets, care, custody and control, model agreement
- Liability insurance for a self-employed flange fitter or pipefitterSetting out, prefabrication, hiring in
- Liability insurance for a self-employed pipefitterPressure testing, torque, handover
- Liability insurance for self-employed people in offshore workBusiness activity, crew contracts, medevac
- Insurance for self-employed professionals (zzp'ers)Before, during, after the job
- Liability insurance for self-employed professionalsClient requirements, private assets, sum insured