Ofsted Inspectors | Professional Indemnity Insurance
Specialist professional indemnity (PI) insurance from Blyth Valley will protect you if claims are made against you in the course of your work for clients.
- Get quote now
- Why you need PI
- Claims example: professional indemnity
- Don't forget your public liability
- Claims example: public liability
- Quote and buy online
Why you need PI
As a self employed inspector, working in the education sector, you will probably not be covered by your local education authority's (LEA) insurance and you could therefore be personally liable for a mistake or misjudgement you make in the course of your work. This means you need the protection of your own professional indemnity insurance.
You need professional indemnity insurance because you are regarded as providing a professional service. Today, people who use professional services are more likely than ever to blame the professional when things go wrong.
In law, as a professional, you owe a duty of care to the people you work for. As an Ofsted inspector, you could be regarded as working for a school, a local educational authority, an agency, as well as students and their parents: a large number of potential claimants.
The chance of a claim being made against you is very small; but, if a claim was made, you could find it extremely expensive to defend yourself.
Claims example: professional indemnity
As an Ofsted inspector, you're used to casting a critical and attentive eye over documentation in schools.
It came as something of a surprise, therefore, when a few days after completing an inspection, you received a letter from your LEA informing you that the school intended formally to challenge your judgement in the inspection report.
The letter told you to expect to hear from the school shortly outlining their claim for misrepresentation.
Fortunately, your professional indemnity insurance policy activates straightaway. It will cover your legal costs and pay any compensation or rectification charges for which you could potentially be found liable.
Don't forget your public liability
You may also wish to consider adding public liability (PL) insurance to your policy. PL insurance covers you for claims made against you for personal injury or property damage.
For example, if you were working on school or college premises and were responsible for an accident that caused damage to school property (or injury to another person), the insurance would cover you for the legal costs involved in defending the claim against you, and also any damages which might be awarded against you.
It's not unknown for damages to reach six figures in public liability cases. The minimum level of cover is usually £2 million, but some local authorities and Government bodies insist on £5 million.
You can add PL to your professional indemnity policy at the touch of a button when you get a quote on our site.
Claims example: public liability
You're in the midst of a complex inspection.
Whilst hurrying back to the classroom from the staffroom after lunch, you inadvertently leave your briefcase sticking out from between two chairs.
When you return from the afternoon's inspection, you find one of the teaching assistants being comforted by another having tripped over your briefcase, twisted her ankle and knocked her head. It's clear that she won't be mobile enough to work for at least a week.
The school needs to claim compensation on her behalf (in order to activate their own insurance policy). Thankfully, your own public liability insurance will cover your legal costs and any compensation for which you might be found liable.
Quote and buy online
You can buy our specialist professional indemnity insurance policy – underwritten by Hiscox – online. Before buying, please take a read through the policy wording and summary of cover.
Our quote engine allows you to add public liability, employers' liability, and office contents insurance for one easy-to-manage policy.
Ready to buy? Get quote now
If you need any more information, require a bespoke quotation due to your business activities, or simply prefer to buy over the telephone, please call us on 0845 370 9030 between 9 and 5.30, Monday to Friday.