Repeatable programmes · guest coaches · selection at intake
Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a life coaching practice
A practice does not sell a single conversation but a programme that runs again and again, with several coaches. A mistake in the design therefore affects not one participant but a whole cohort.
- Several insurers compared objectively
- 9.5 customer rating for a new policy
- AFM licence 12016589
- Personal 072 - 509 24 56, weekdays 9–17
Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een life coaching praktijk.
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
The distinctive risk of a practice is repetition. As soon as you standardise a programme, with fixed modules, exercises, workbooks and an online environment, a design error sits not in one conversation but in the material everybody works through. An exercise that is destabilising for participants with a history of trauma, an intake too coarse to pick up contraindications, or a module that encourages participants to take far-reaching financial or relationship decisions: the complaints then come in as a series. That is pure financial loss plus, where there is psychological decompensation, a discussion about harm to health.
The second point is the question of who works in your name. A practice uses guest coaches, assistants or hired-in self-employed professionals, while the participant has an agreement with the practice. The complaint therefore lands with you, even if someone else ran the session. So have it checked word for word whether third parties engaged, staff and interns are treated as insured persons, and whether the cover applies to liability you carry for their conduct. For a sole practice without staff the considerations are different. Those are set out under the self-employed life coach.
Life coaching is not a profession with registration under the Wet BIG or disciplinary law. That does not mean there is no standard: when a claim arises, the test is whether you acted as a reasonably competent and reasonably acting contractor, the standard in Article 7:401 of the Dutch Civil Code. Insurers draw the line at diagnosing and treating psychological disorders. So have your working methods described concretely on the policy schedule. Injury to a participant on your practice premises does not belong here but on a public and employers' liability insurance.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare professional indemnity insurance (BAV).
What to look out for
Four subjects that make the difference in a practice with programmes and several coaches.
Select at the gate
A group programme is not suitable for everyone. Include fixed questions in the intake about psychiatric history, medication and current treatment, and keep a list of contraindications where you do not start but refer on. Anyone who admits everybody without that filter weakens their position as soon as a participant says the programme made their symptoms worse.
The group of insured persons
Check whether your policy names your coaches as well as the business. With affiliated self-employed professionals, set out in the cooperation agreement that they maintain their own professional indemnity insurance and that you ask for the policy schedule each year. Without those two layers you pay the claim about someone else's session yourself, including the defence costs.
Retreats and stays outside the Netherlands
A weekend abroad touches two provisions at once: the area of cover, which is often set at Europe, and the question whether activities with a physical component still fall within your stated activities. Report the location, duration and programme elements in advance. An increase in risk that has not been reported can, under Articles 7:928 and 7:930 of the Dutch Civil Code affect the payout.
What falls outside the policy
The following, among others, are outside the cover: intent and wilful recklessness (Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code); fines and penalty payments, including those of the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (the Dutch data protection authority); injury and property damage during sessions, which belong on the AVB; and liability that only exists because of a warranty or contractual clause that goes beyond the professional standard.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover of the practice: the usual basis, including turnover from programmes and materials
- Number of supervisors: your own staff and affiliated self-employed professionals weigh differently
- Group size: determines how many participants one mistake in the programme affects
- Forms of work: breathwork, body-oriented work and outdoor activities are assessed separately
- Area of cover: retreats and online participants outside Europe broaden the risk
- Retroactive and run-off periods: complaints about a programme often only come months after it ends
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A participant resigns from his permanent job on advice from your choice module and is then without income for a year | No | Yes |
| A breathing exercise from your programme triggers a panic attack in a participant who is admitted to hospital | No | Provided that |
| You accidentally send a participant's completed intake form to the whole group list | No | Provided that |
| One of your coaches knocks over the client's projector during a session on site | Yes | No |
| A participant twists an ankle during a walking exercise at your retreat | Yes | No |
| The income you lose because the rest of the group drops out after the incident | No | No |
The turnover you lose yourself is not someone else's loss and is not recovered on either policy.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Our guest coaches are self-employed. Is a mistake of theirs insured with us?
That depends on your policy. The participant has an agreement with the practice, so the claim comes to you. Insurers sometimes cover liability for third parties engaged as standard, sometimes only with an endorsement on the policy schedule and sometimes not at all. Have this expressly included and also require your guest coaches to hold their own cover.
Several participants complain about the same part of the programme. Is that one claim?
Usually yes. Claims arising from the same cause are generally seen as a series loss and count as one claim, with one excess but also with the amount per claim available only once. That is precisely why the sum insured per claim weighs more heavily in a practice with group programmes than in individual one-to-one work.
We also sell an online programme with no personal guidance.
Report that separately. In self-study without any contact you cannot observe anything or make adjustments, while the reach is large. Insurers assess this form differently from individual coaching. Make sure your terms and your sales page describe what the programme is, who it is not intended for, and that it is not a substitute for care or treatment.
A participant demands his fee back because he got nowhere.
Refunding your own fee is not an insured loss. That is a dispute about your invoice and not about detriment the participant suffers through a mistake by you. If you want help with the legal side of such disputes, that belongs on legal expenses insurance. Avoid the discussion by not promising a result in your offer.
Read more
Within Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekeringthe main page
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering coach zzp
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering life coach zzp
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering voedingsadvies praktijk
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering coachingbureau
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering loopbaanbegeleiding
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering remedial teaching praktijk
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