Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a self-employed training consultant
You advise on learning programmes whose effect only shows a year later. If the advice then turns out to be wrong, the loss is purely financial and, as a self-employed professional, you face the client alone.
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In brief
Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) pays for pure financial loss: money your client loses without anyone being injured or anything being damaged. For training advice that is virtually the whole risk. You advise on learning pathways, on how a training budget is divided, on the choice of a provider and on which employee needs which programme. The bill for a mistake consists of course fees paid, lost production hours and a programme that has to be run again.
What goes wrong in this work usually lies in a condition that was overlooked. You recommend a course whose qualification does not have the standing the employer expected, so that employees turn out not to be deployable in the role they were trained for. Or you draw up a training plan that does not adequately cover the employer against his duty to provide training under Article 7:611a of the Dutch Civil Code, which only comes out in a dismissal case. Your work is judged against Article 7:401 of the Dutch Civil Code: did you act as a reasonably competent and reasonably acting professional? Disappointing learning results are not a professional error. An admission or recognition requirement demonstrably ignored is.
As a self-employed professional, look closely at the purchasing terms you sign. If a client has you warrant a result, or extends your liability beyond what the law imposes, risk shifts that your policy does not follow: liability you carry solely on the basis of a contract is excluded as standard. Damage to equipment on site or injury to a participant does not belong on this policy but on a public and employers' liability insurance.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare professional indemnity insurance (BAV).
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Professional indemnity insurance (BAV)
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You call or email someone who knows your file. No menu options, no changing call centres.
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We cancel your old policy and align the start date, so you are never a day without cover.
Help with claims
We report the claim and monitor how it is handled. In urgent cases you can reach us on the emergency line.
What to look out for
Four points that go wrong in training advice more often than the level of the sum insured would suggest.
The client's terms
Larger employers and educational institutions work with their own purchasing terms containing an indemnity, a penalty clause or a warranty. What you take on extra in them is liability accepted under contract and it is excluded on virtually every BAV. Negotiate this before signing, or have the wording reviewed first.
Advice on grants and schemes
If you advise on training grants or on a scheme with conditions attached, an application that is refused or reclaimed is an amount that can be calculated precisely. Report this form of advice when you apply: some insurers require a separate professional capacity for it or exclude grant and tax advice.
Advising or teaching yourself
If you provide training alongside advice, you are doing two things. The policy only covers the described business activity on your policy schedule. If it says only training advice and the complaint concerns a course you gave yourself, a dispute about cover arises. Have both activities included word for word.
Stopping without run-off cover
Your policy works on a claims-madebasis: what counts is the year in which the claim reaches you, not the year in which you advised. If you transfer your practice or retire, arrange the run-off period before you cancel. Buying it afterwards is rarely still possible.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover from advisory work: the usual basis for calculation in a one-person practice
- Described business activity: advice only, or training and delivery as well
- Advice on grants and schemes: increases the risk and sometimes the premium
- Sum insured: per claim and capped per insurance year
- Retroactive date: the further back the retroactive cover goes, the higher the premium
- Excess per claim: a higher excess lowers the premium
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What falls under which policy
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A training plan that lacks a compulsory professional certification, so that employees cannot be deployed | No | Yes |
| An employee you sent on the wrong course, so that the course fee is lost | No | Yes |
| A damaged meeting room after a session you organised | Provided that | No |
| Injury to a participant during a practical day at which you were present yourself | Yes | No |
| The cost of defending yourself against a client holding you liable | No | Yes |
| A penalty the client imposes on you because you delivered the plan late | No | No |
The AVB is about injury and damage to property, the BAV about the financial detriment caused by your advice; penalties under a contract always stay at your own expense.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
A client requires a minimum sum insured. How do I show that?
With a certificate of insurance from the insurer, stating the professional capacity, the sum insured and the policy period. Watch the wording in the contract: a sum per claim is not the same as a sum per insurance year. If two claims are brought against you in one year, the annual limit determines what is left.
I regularly work through a consultancy. Am I covered by their policy?
Not automatically. Many consultancy policies cover only staff and expressly named hired-in workers. Ask in writing whether you are treated as an insured person and whether that also applies after the engagement has ended. If that confirmation is missing, you need your own policy; clients also ask for one more and more often in tenders.
The provider made the mistake, not me. Why does the client come to me?
Because you are the contracting party. For the conduct of auxiliaries you engage in performing the work, you are liable to your client under Article 6:76 of the Dutch Civil Code as if it were your own conduct. Your insurer can then seek recovery from the provider. So record who is responsible for what and check that your partners are insured themselves.
A client is complaining but has not named an amount. Do I have to report that already?
Yes. Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code requires you to report as soon as you are aware of the event that can lead to a payment; waiting until an amount is on the table is not allowed. Under a claims-made policy, notifying a circumstance also fixes the insurance year, even if the claim only becomes concrete later. In the meantime, admit no liability and promise no payment.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
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