Parental authority and consent · the reporting code · assessment reports
Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for an educational practice
In an educational psychology practice the client is a child and the complainant is almost always a parent. The claim is rarely about the support itself, but about a report, a notification or a signature that was missing.
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Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een pedagogische praktijk.
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In brief
What goes wrong in this practice is almost never a procedure. It is an assessment report used elsewhere: in a school placement, a dyslexia statement, a meeting with the school attendance officer or proceedings about parental authority and contact. If such a report is later held to have been careless, a parent argues that the child lost a year or that a programme was gone through unnecessarily. That is pure financial loss: money, without injury and without damage to property. That is exactly the heart of professional indemnity insurance, and exactly what is excluded on a public and employers' liability insurance excluded.
The second source of claims is consent. For a child under sixteen, consent from both parents with parental authority is the starting point. If you start a programme at the request of one parent while the other has parental authority and knows nothing about it, a complaint almost certainly follows and sometimes a notice of liability, even if the support was good in substance. Record the parental authority situation at intake, ask for an extract from the parental authority register if in doubt and keep the signed consent in the file.
The third is the reporting code: where domestic abuse or child abuse is suspected, you go through the steps and consider a report to Veilig Thuis (the Dutch domestic abuse and child abuse advice centre). A parent who says he suffers loss as a result can claim against you under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code. Steps carefully worked through are then your defence; skipping steps is the problem. If more practitioners work in your practice, you are liable for their mistakes under Article 6:170 of the Dutch Civil Code and they have to be within the class of insured persons.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare professional indemnity insurance (BAV).
Where this practice comes unstuck
Four subjects that lead to liability in support for children and families.
Reporting without mixing your roles
A practitioner who also puts an opinion about a family situation on paper ends up in a dual role. Professional codes reject that and a court or complaints committee attaches great weight to it. Do not write a statement about a child you are supporting for use in legal proceedings. Refer assessments to an independent colleague and set out that boundary in your treatment agreement.
Sharing data with a school or local authority
Forwarding a report to a school, neighbourhood team or school attendance officer without consent is a privacy failure that is claimed as a professional error. Ask for consent for each recipient and each document, and limit the content to what the recipient needs. A fine from the regulator is not insurable, the parent's claim for damages in principle is.
Staff, interns and hired-in practitioners
Have the policy name who is an insured person: the practice owner, staff, interns, and self-employed professionals you hire in. For that last group, Article 6:171 of the Dutch Civil Code can make you liable as principal. Ask hired-in workers for their own policy with a comparable sum insured and check it each year.
What the policy does not solve
Outside the cover are: disciplinary sanctions from a professional register such as the SKJ, fines and penalty payments, refunding your own fee, loss caused by intent or wilful recklessness (Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code) and claims arising from circumstances you already knew about when you took out the policy. An employment dispute or a dispute with a local authority about a contract belongs with legal expenses.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover of the practice — the basis on which the rate is calculated
- Number of care providers — including interns and hired-in self-employed professionals
- Share of assessment and reporting — assessments for third parties weigh more heavily than support work
- Clients — work for local authorities and schools has its own contractual requirements
- Sum insured per claim — often prescribed in the purchasing terms
- Retroactive and run-off periods — claims about youth programmes sometimes come years later
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is why comparing pays off.
What falls under which policy
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A programme started on the wrong question, so that a child receives suitable help a year late | No | Yes |
| A missed deadline for a dyslexia assessment, so that the parents pay for the assessment themselves | No | Yes |
| A damaged floor at a family's home caused by materials of yours falling over | Yes | No |
| Injury to a child who falls off play equipment during a session at your practice | Yes | No |
| The cost of defending yourself against parents holding your practice liable | No | Yes |
| Carrying out the assessment again after a mistake has come to light | No | No |
The AVB covers injury and damage to property during your work, the BAV the financial detriment arising from your assessment and advice; putting your own work right stays at your own expense.
Frequently asked questions
The questions we are asked most often about this.
One parent wants help, the other refuses. What does that mean for my risk?
For a child under sixteen, consent from both parents with parental authority is the starting point. If you start anyway, you run the risk of a complaint and a notice of liability from the parent who did not consent. Record the parental authority situation, inform both parents in writing and only start once consent is in place or a court decision provides clarity.
A parent complains about a report to Veilig Thuis. Am I insured for that?
The defence costs and any compensation fall within the cover in principle, provided you cannot be accused of intent. The insurer checks whether you went through the steps of the reporting code and recorded your reasoning. Report the claim as soon as it comes in; Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code requires you to do so as soon as you are reasonably aware of it.
Do we also need public and employers' liability insurance (AVB)?
For a practice with its own premises, yes. A child who trips over play materials, damage to the rented premises or injury to a visitor does not fall under the professional cover. If you have staff, the duty of care in Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code is added. See also the page on liability for educational psychologists.
How long must I keep cover after closing the practice?
Longer than in many other professions. Children and parents sometimes come back to a programme only after years, and most policies are claims-made: the moment of notification counts, not the moment of the conduct. So choose a generous run-off period and arrange it before the end date, because buying it afterwards rarely works.
Read more
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