Deliverables · delay losses · subcontractors
Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a consultancy firm
As long as you advise, your obligation is one of best efforts. As soon as you agree deliverables and deadlines, that changes, and so does your liability.
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- Personal 072 - 509 24 56, weekdays 9–17
Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een consultancybureau.
The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert. nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
Work out for yourself what it would cost.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
- We compare the offerings of several insurers
- An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
- We arrange the switch, including cancellation
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
A consultancy firm is held liable for the outcome of a project. An implementation that overruns by months, an organisational design that does not work, selection advice where the chosen package turns out not to fit, or a business case on which the client based an investment. Nothing is broken and nobody is injured; the client has lost money. That is pure financial loss, exactly the type of loss that professional indemnity insurance exists for and that public and employers' liability insurance excludes. The general account of this policy is set out on the hub page on the BAV.
The legal heart of it is in your contract. Advisory work falls under the engagement in Article 7:400 of the Dutch Civil Code, with the duty of care in Article 7:401 of the Dutch Civil Code as the standard: did you act as a reasonably competent and reasonably acting professional? If, however, you agree a specific piece of work for a fixed price, with acceptance criteria and a delivery date, the agreement shifts towards an obligation to achieve a specific result. The question is then no longer whether you worked carefully, but whether the agreed result is there. So frame deliverables in terms of what you deliver, not of what it should earn the client.
Next, note what the policy does not recognise as loss. Many conditions exclude delay losses, lost profit and savings not realised or limit them to a sub-limit, while it is precisely those items that make up the bulk of a project claim. contractual penalties and liability you have accepted above liability in law also remain outside the cover. If your client uses his own purchasing conditions, read the liability paragraph first and the rates afterwards.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare professional indemnity insurance (BAV).
What to look out for
Four points that determine in project work whether a claim falls within the cover.
Freelancers and subcontractors
If you use self-employed professionals on an engagement, you remain liable to your client for their work under Article 6:76 of the Dutch Civil Code. Many policies do not cover liability for third parties engaged as standard. Arrange for it to be included, or require every freelancer to hold their own professional indemnity insurance with a suitable sum insured and keep the evidence of insurance with the contract.
Intellectual property in your material
Models, templates, code and images that you reuse can touch on third-party rights. An infringement of copyright or licence rights is included on some policies and excluded on others. That applies to material you brought from a previous client as well. Check the policy conditions and record which licences belong to which engagement.
Scope, additional work and acceptance
Most project claims begin with a scope that shifted along the way without anyone recording it. Work with written change orders, an acceptance procedure for each phase and minutes of the steering group. If the client refuses to accept a phase but carries on anyway, record it. Without those documents you are left empty-handed in a dispute, however good the work was.
Items of loss the policy does not recognise
Not paid are: fines, penalty payments and contractual penalty clauses; intent and wilful recklessness under Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code; and redoing your own work, including crediting your invoices. Claims by your own or hired-in staff about the employment relationship do not belong on this policy either.
What does your premium depend on?
- Turnover and number of consultants: the usual basis for the rate at project organisations
- Type of assignments: strategy and research weigh differently from implementation and programme management
- Type of contract: time and materials gives a different risk from a fixed price with acceptance criteria
- Use of subcontractors: and whether their liability falls under your policy
- Client segment and project size: large clients usually stipulate wider liability
- Territorial scope and retroactive date: foreign engagements and current projects from the past
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A calculation error in the business case on which your client based an investment | No | Yes |
| Your selection advice leads to a package that cannot handle the client's core processes | No | Yes |
| An implementation overruns by months and the client claims his extra project costs | No | Provided that |
| A template with images whose licence turns out not to be sufficient | No | Provided that |
| Your consultant loses a laptop lent to him by the client | Provided that | No |
| The penalty clause in the purchasing conditions your client declared applicable | No | No |
Delay losses and lost profit make up the bulk of a project claim and are precisely the items that differ most from policy to policy.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Our project overran. Is that delay insured loss?
That depends on the policy conditions. Delay losses and lost profit are regularly excluded or limited to a sub-limit, while it is exactly those items a client puts forward. If the delay is the result of a demonstrable professional error and the policy recognises consequential loss, there can be cover. Check this point explicitly when comparing quotations. The difference between policies is large here.
We work with our trade association's terms. Is that enough?
Only if they are validly applicable. A limitation of liability works only where the terms were handed over before or when the agreement was concluded, as Articles 6:233 and 6:234 of the Dutch Civil Code require. A reference at the foot of the invoice is too late. If the client declares his purchasing conditions applicable and you accept that, his terms apply.
One of our consultants loses the client's laptop. Which policy is that?
That is not a professional error but damage to property, and therefore a matter for public and employers' liability insurance. Watch the care, custody and control exclusion there: someone else's property in your care is often precisely what is not covered. If there is client data on the laptop, a data breach comes on top of it and that is a subject for cyber insurance again.
When do we have to report a claim?
As soon as possible. Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code requires you to inform the insurer as soon as you are reasonably aware, and a claims made policy also requires notification during the term. So report a circumstance that is not yet a claim as well, such as an angry letter or a threatened notice of default. Negotiating an admission of liability yourself can damage the cover.
Read more
Within Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering
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- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering it consultancy
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering bedrijfsadviseur zzp
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering boekhoudkantoor
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering bedrijfsadvies
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering ai adviesbureau
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