No Wet BIG title · promises of results · psychological complaints
Professional indemnity – Life coach
Life coach is not a protected profession. That is precisely why an insurer looks closely at the boundary between what you offer and what counts as healthcare.
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Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Beroepsaansprakelijkheid – Life Coach.
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 claim against a life coach is rarely about a broken leg. It is about money and consequences: a client says he resigned from his job on your advice, a programme that lasted months without result, or psychological complaints that the client says were made worse by your guidance. That is pure financial loss, and it falls outside a public and employers' liability insurance. Only professional indemnity insurance picks up claims of this kind.
The decisive point in your policy is the description of your activities. Coaching is an unregulated profession without registration under the Wet BIG and without disciplinary law, but as soon as you move towards diagnosis, trauma therapy or psychotherapy, the risk changes. Insurers often exclude the treatment of psychological disorders or include a separate clause for it. Do not settle for a general description such as coaching; have it recorded what you actually do, including methods such as body-oriented work, breathwork or group programmes.
Also watch your own texts. If you put a promise of resultson your website or in a quotation, your obligation to use best efforts turns into something you are held to. Liability you take on by contract that would not exist without that clause is excluded as standard. 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).
Points to note for a coach
Four points that determine whether your policy actually works when a complaint arrives.
The boundary with healthcare
Without registration under the Wet BIG you may not use a protected title or carry out reserved procedures. If a programme shifts towards treating depression, trauma or an eating disorder, you are on ground your policy probably excludes. Record a referral arrangement and describe in your terms when you break off a programme and refer the client to a GP or a psychologist.
Your own general terms
Clear terms are cheaper protection here than a higher sum insured: a description of the programme, a statement that coaching is not a substitute for treatment, and a limitation of your liability. Insurers ask about them expressly. Promises in marketing and on social media are taken into account as well, even if your terms say something different.
Online programmes, groups and retreats
A video programme for participants abroad touches the area of cover of your policy; as standard that is often Europe. If you work with groups on location or with physical exercises, a risk of injury is added that belongs not on the professional cover but on the AVB. Report both forms when you apply, because they shift the risk materially.
Three exclusions to be aware of
Outside the cover are: repaying your own fee where there is dissatisfaction with the programme, intent and wilful recklessness under Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code, and claims already known when the policy came into force. A fine from the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (the Dutch data protection authority) after a data breach in your client records is not insurable either.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover: the basis on which the premium is set
- Description of your activities: the most important factor in an unregulated profession
- Individually or in groups: group work increases the number of possible claims
- Physical or body-oriented methods: brings a risk of injury alongside financial loss
- Area of cover: clients outside Europe call for an extension
- Sum insured and excess: per claim and per insurance year
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A client resigns from his job after your advice and claims the income he lost as a result | No | Yes |
| You mention a client recognisably as an example in your newsletter and she holds you liable | No | Yes |
| A participant sprains her ankle during a body-oriented exercise in your room | Yes | No |
| You knock over a cup of tea onto your client's phone during a session | Yes | No |
| A participant in your online programme lives outside Europe and brings a claim | No | Provided that |
| The employer who paid for the programme demands his investment back because the employee left anyway | No | No |
What the complaint is about determines the policy: what you advised, or what happened in the room.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
A client demands the whole programme fee back. Does the insurance pay that?
No. Refunding your own fee is not a third party's loss but the undoing of your performance, and that is excluded on every professional indemnity policy. What is insured is the loss the client says he suffers in addition and which results from a demonstrable mistake by you. A clear complaints procedure in your terms prevents most escalation here.
My client's symptoms got worse during the programme. Am I liable?
Only if you did or failed to do something that a reasonably acting coach would not, for instance continuing when the signs called for a referral. The insurer will look at your intake, your file notes and your referral policy. If there is no intake in which you asked about treatment and medication, defending the claim becomes considerably harder.
I have no Wet BIG registration and no disciplinary law. Do I really need this?
Yes. The absence of disciplinary law means precisely that a dissatisfied client goes straight down the civil route under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code or for breach of contract. You then carry the defence costs yourself, which often weigh more heavily than the claim. Professional indemnity insurance pays those defence costs and conducts the defence for you.
What if a client breaks something or falls during a session at my premises?
That is not a professional error but injury or damage to property and belongs on public and employers' liability insurance. If you work in rented premises, also ask for tenant's liability for fire or water damage to the building. Two separate policies alongside each other is more usual in this profession than one combined cover.
Read more
Within Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekeringthe main page
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering coach zzp
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering life coaching praktijk
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering voedingsadvies praktijk
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering psycholoog zzp
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering psychotherapeut zzp
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering osteopaat zzp
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