The reporting code · professional confidentiality · local authority contracts
Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a social work practice
In social work the liability rarely lies in what you do and often in what you do or do not pass on. Both a missed report and an unjustified report can lead to a claim.
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Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een maatschappelijk werk 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.
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A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
Two opposing allegations determine the risk in this practice. The first is acting too late: signs of domestic abuse or child abuse that were not picked up, where the assessment framework in the reporting code should have led to consultation with Veilig Thuis (the Dutch domestic abuse and child abuse advice centre). The second is acting too quickly: a report or a disclosure of information based on an incomplete picture, after which a parent says that he lost contact, work or housing as a result. Both lead to financial detriment for people who did not buy your service themselves.
That last point is where you have to check your policy. Your contract is usually with a local authority, partnership or employer, while the claim comes from the client, the partner or a family member. That route runs not through breach of contract but through tort in Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code. Not every policy covers claims by people other than the client equally widely; have it expressly recorded that third-party claims are included and that defence costs fall within them.
As a practice you are also liable under Article 6:170 of the Dutch Civil Code for mistakes by your staff, even where they can be held individually to account under disciplinary law through their registration. Make sure staff, interns and hired-in professionals are treated as insured persons. The considerations for someone doing this work alone are set out under the self-employed social worker; the general explanation of the product is on the hub page.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare professional indemnity insurance (BAV).
What to look out for
Four subjects that lead to a claim in the social domain more often than the support work itself.
Record the steps of the reporting code
The defence to a claim about reporting too late or reporting without justification consists of your file: which signs you saw, who you consulted, what assessment you made and why. Anyone who can show that they went through the five steps is in a strong position, even if the outcome turns out to have been unfortunate. Anyone who only noted a conclusion has to reconstruct it afterwards.
Professional confidentiality and sharing data
In neighbourhood teams, care meetings and safety meetings, information covered by your duty of confidentiality is shared. Work with a recorded legal basis and share only what is necessary for the purpose. Disclosure that is unnecessary or too broad is the complaint that most often leads to a claim; fines from the regulator are not insurable, the client's loss in principle is.
Advice about money and entitlements
Supporting people with debts, allowances or benefits means that deadlines and applications pass through your hands. A missed objection deadline or an application completed incorrectly leads to directly measurable detriment. Set out in your working instructions who monitors deadlines and how far your support goes; refer people on for legal assistance and record that.
What falls outside the policy
Excluded are, among others: intent and wilful recklessness (Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code); fines and penalty payments; clawback by a local authority of programmes paid for on the ground of incomplete accounting; and injury and property damage, for instance during a group activity, which belong on a public and employers' liability insurance.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover: the usual basis, including local authority engagements
- Number of care providers: employees, interns and hired-in professionals count
- Target groups: youth work and work under court-ordered measures are assessed more strictly
- Type of clients: local authorities and institutions set their own requirements for the sum insured
- Registration and training: professional competence and a complaints procedure are taken into account in underwriting
- Retroactive and run-off periods: claims about youth cases sometimes only come years later
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A client misses out on special assistance because your social worker let the application deadline expire | No | Yes |
| A family is evicted after an objection deadline passed unused while under your support | No | Yes |
| Signs of abuse go unaddressed for months and a child is harmed | No | Provided that |
| One of your social workers knocks over the client's aquarium during a home visit | Yes | No |
| A client trips over a loose floor panel in your waiting area | Yes | No |
| The grant the local authority reclaims because you delivered fewer programmes than agreed | No | No |
A reduction or clawback of your own fee is a dispute about the engagement and not an insured loss.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
A parent is holding us liable after a report to Veilig Thuis.
Reporting on the basis of a careful assessment is not a tort, even if the investigation later comes to nothing. The test is whether you followed the steps of the reporting code and whether your report was factually correct. Report the claim to your insurer, supply your file and do not respond on the substance to the parent before your position has been determined.
Our client is not a contracting party. Can he still claim against us?
Yes. Alongside the contractual route there is tort under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code, and in the social domain in particular the claim usually comes from the client or a family member and not from the local authority that pays. So check whether your policy covers third-party claims. A policy limited to your client leaves precisely the greatest risk uninsured.
A member of staff has made a mistake. Who carries it?
Your practice. Under Article 6:170 of the Dutch Civil Code you are liable for mistakes by employees in their work. The member of staff can also be held to account under disciplinary law. That affects their registration, not the compensation. Make sure staff and interns are named as insured persons on the policy, so that defence costs are properly arranged for both tracks.
When do we have to report something to the insurer?
As soon as you reasonably know that a claim may follow, even if there is no letter from a lawyer yet. Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code requires prompt notification and most policies are claims-made, with the moment of notification determining the insurance year. A complaint that has been announced, a disciplinary case or an angry email containing accusations is reason enough to report.
Read more
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