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As a specialist insurer with over 25 years’ experience, we understand the potential risks facing management consultants and business advisors.
Whether it’s business strategy, supply chain, finance, IT or another area that you specialise in, we cover business and management consultants across a range of industries, from the charity sector to financial services. Ensuring you have the appropriate level of business consultant insurance is a worthwhile consideration.
Cover at a glance:
- Professional indemnity cover up to £5m
- Covers strategic advice, project delivery and client disputes
- Suitable for freelance consultants and small firms
What is management and business consultant insurance?
Our business and management consultants insurance offers comprehensive cover that can be tailored to the needs of your business. From professional indemnity insurance for management consultants to cyber and data risks insurance, our insurance is designed to protect you from the risks management consultants most often face. This can include:
Poor advice: A client alleges that following your professional advice and changing their business strategy has caused them a financial loss. They want to make a claim against you for professional negligence. In this scenario, professional indemnity insurance would cover you. With the job being based around providing advice, professional indemnity insurance is often considered essential for management consultants and business consultants.
An error in your work: Some calculations in your business plan are incorrect which causes your client to overspend on sales and marketing. Your client is holding you responsible for the mistake and overall loss of income they’ve suffered. In this instance, professional indemnity insurance would cover you.
Damage to third party property: While visiting a client’s premises, you accidentally knock a drink over their laptop which leaves it unusable. Your client is expecting you to pay for the laptop to be fixed. Public liability insurance would cover this type of claim.
Data breach: You’re the victim of a phishing attack. Confidential client data gets into the wrong hands. You have to report the data breach and pay damages to your client. This type of incident would be covered by cyber insurance.
Cover starting at
£5 a month*
*Price based on a business consultant requiring £1 million of public liability insurance.
Why do management and business consultants need insurance?
When you advise businesses on a daily basis, unintentional incidents can occur. An error in a piece of work, an accident whilst visiting a client’s premises, or the theft of expensive computer equipment could have a serious financial impact on your business. Our specialist business and management consultant insurance can cover your organisation against these kinds of risks. It’s not just one product, it’s a range of different covers that can be tailored to suit you and your business.
Additionally, it’s common for clients to require you to hold business insurance before they begin working with you. Arranging insurance for business consultants with Markel Direct can be done online in a matter of minutes, with proof of insurance documentation issued instantly, enabling you to start work quickly.
Management consultant professional indemnity insurance
Professional indemnity insurance for business consultants ensures if your business faces an accusation of professional negligence, you’re covered against them and the any resulting costs. These can include legal fees and potential payouts for damages. It could be that you provided advice to a client that they then acted upon, but unfortunately led to their business suffering as a result. If you’re unsure and find yourself asking “do consultants need professional indemnity insurance?”, we recommend you consider obtaining the appropriate level of cover.
How to buy business consultanting insurance
Our simple quote system will ask about your business operations and build a policy around them, offering you the covers that may be of interest. You can choose to buy all or just some of the business insurance for management consultants covers quoted, so you will only ever pay for the cover you want.
Example policy documents
If you have an existing policy with us, please sign in to view your policy documents.
Below you will find examples of the documents provided.
More consulting professions we cover
Management consultant insurance covers
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Professional indemnity insurance
PI insurance for management consultants (or Professional indemnity insurance) covers the cost of defending your business against allegations of professional negligence (such as giving your client incorrect or wrongful advice) and any compensation or damages subsequently awarded against you.
Example of claims include:
- You produce a report for a client on restructuring their operations to lower costs. The changes directly attributable to the recommendations you have made result in higher costs for the client and they take legal action against you for the poor advice.
- You produce a strategy report for a client in relation to growing their sales, but the tactics end up losing them business. They take legal action against you to recover the lost income.
This is essential consulting business insurance for all management advisors and business consultants and insurance cover is available with limits ranging from £50,000 to £5m.
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Public and product liability insurance
Public and product liability insurance covers the cost of defending your business (including damages awarded against you if unsuccessful) if someone is injured, or their property damaged, which arises from you going about your business or supplying products.
Examples of claims include:
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While visiting a client’s office, you accidentally spill a cup of coffee over their smartphone and laptop. You are sent an invoice for the cost of replacing them.
- A client slips on a wet floor and injures themselves while visiting your workplace. They make a personal injury claim against you seeking compensation.
If you regularly visit client premises as part of your consulting activities, you may need this cover. Limits range from £1m to £5m.
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Employers' liability insurance
Employers' liability insurance is a legal requirement if your business has employees. It covers your business against claims for injury or illness suffered by employees arising from their employment.
An example of a claim would be:
- An employee trips over a computer cable at your office and is unable to work for several weeks due to the injury. They make a personal injury claim against you seeking compensation.
If your consultancy employs staff, you need this cover. Cover for £10m.
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Legal expenses insurance
Commercial legal expenses insurance covers the costs of defending you as a director or officer of your company against allegations of wrongful acts and any damages subsequently awarded against you. Cover is also provided for the legal costs and expenses of defending actions for disqualification as a director, investigations and extradition proceedings. Limits range from £100,000 to £5m.
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Office insurance
Office insurance covers your office buildings, office contents and computer equipment against accidental damage (including theft) whilst on your business premises. You can also choose to cover your business equipment (such as laptops and mobile phones) on a worldwide basis, and insure your business against loss of income and/or additional trading expenses following events such as damage to your property.
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Directors and officers insurance
Directors and officers insurance covers the costs of defending you as a director or officer of your company against allegations of wrongful acts and any damages subsequently awarded against you. Cover is also provided in respect of the legal costs and expenses of defending actions for disqualification as a director, investigations and extradition proceedings. If you are a director of a business or management consultancy, you may want to consider this cover. Limits range from £100,000 to £5m.
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Occupational personal accident insurance
Occupational personal accident insurance provides a weekly payment if you are unable to work due to temporary total disablement (subject to a 14-day deferment period) due to an accident at work, or when travelling to and from work. In the event of loss of limbs, sight, speech, hearing, permanent total disablement or death, a lump sum would be paid out. You should consider this cover if you would struggle to maintain an income following an accident that left you unable to work. Limits from £100/week to £500/week for temporary total disablement (£25k lump sum to £100k lump sum for permanent total disablement).
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Cyber and data risks insurance
Cyber insurance pays the costs of restoring data and equipment, informing clients, meeting ransom demands and loss of your net profit following a cyber-attack. It also pays your legal defence costs and damages you are legally liable to pay to other parties. If you hold confidential information about your clients and their projects on computers and other internet connected devices, you should consider to this cover.
How it works
Choose the cover you require
Get a quote you need in minutes
Buy online or contact one of our advisors
How much does management and business consultant insurance cost?
At Markel Direct, we offer management consulting insurance from £5 a month for £1 million worth of public liability cover*. When it comes to consultant insurance, the cost varies from business to business depending on;
- The size of your business - your turnover and whether you have any employees
- The level of cover you choose
- The types of projects you work on and the equipment you use.
To get a clearer idea of how much you’ll pay for your business and management consultants insurance, simply get a quote online.
Indicative quotes
Business consultant
- Limited company
- 1 employee
- £106,000 turnover
- Harrogate
- (£337.68/yr)
- £33.77/mo
- Professional indemnity £1m
- Public liability £1m
- Legal expenses £100,000
- Employers' liability £10m
Ecological consultant
- Sole trader
- 0 employees
- £45,000 turnover
- Birmingham
- (£382.68/yr)
- £38.27/mo
- Professional indemnity £1m
- Public liability £1m
- Portable equipment £5,000
- Employers' liability
Training consultant
- Limited company
- 1 employee
- £79,000 turnover
- Nottingham
- (£189.28/yr)
- £18.93/mo
- Professional indemnity £50,000
- Public liability £1m
- Legal expenses
- Employers' liability £10m
*Final price payable is subject to underwriting criteria and acceptance. AI images are used on this website to depict example customer types. Any resemblance to an actual person is purely coincidental.
Ready to build your quote?
Our simple quote process will help you to find the right business insurance for your individual needs.
Frequently asked questions
These frequently asked questions are designed to help you and include questions relating to policy cover, pricing and ‘technical’ terms.
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Do consultants need insurance?
“Do I need insurance for my consulting business?” If you’re asking that question, then we’d say that obtaining the appropriate level of cover is a worthwhile consideration. Management and business consultants face a variety of potential risks across all aspects of their work. From cyber and data risks through to personal accidents or accidents involving members of the public. By ensuring you have the correct cover in place, this will prevent a financial strain on your business.
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What insurance do consultants need?
This depends on a variety of factors, from the type of consultancy you run, the way you operate, how you interact with the public to whether you have your own office. At Markel Direct, you can get an online quote in minutes, or call a member of our expert team of insurers on 0370 218 4600 to arrange a business consultancy insurance package tailored to suit you and your needs.
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I need professional indemnity insurance to secure a contract - do you provide proof of cover?
Yes. If you purchase your policy with us, your documents are emailed to you instantly and include a dedicated 'Confirmation of Liability Insurance' document (detailing the cover you have with us) which you can present to agencies and clients as proof of cover.
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Is my past work covered?
We cover past work if you have held professional indemnity insurance uninterrupted prior to arranging your policy with us.
If there was a period of time where you did not have professional indemnity insurance in force (for example, you have never arranged professional indemnity insurance before, you chose not to renew a previous policy or you cancelled a previous policy at the end of a contract) we are unable to cover past work.
If you require further clarification, don't hesitate to call us on 0800 640 6600.
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What limit of cover should I choose?
Many clients and industry bodies with regulatory requirements will require you to have a minimum level of cover for you to undertake a contract, so it's worth checking this before you arrange cover. If you're unsure, give some thought to a worst-case scenario and the likely costs involved in putting your mistake right. We offer a range of limits on insurance, so you're sure to find the right cover for your business.
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What's the difference between professional indemnity and public liability?
Professional indemnity insurance covers against allegations of professional negligence - which means it would cover you if you were to make an error or mistake in a piece of work (such as a project or report) for a client.
Public liability insurance covers against allegations of injury or illness caused to third parties by your negligence. This includes many of the slips, trips and falls that are associated with personal injury claims. In addition, public liability insurance covers against damage to third party property - for example, if you were to damage a client-owned laptop or smartphone.
As they insure against different scenarios, it's important you consider arranging both types of cover to ensure you are properly protected.
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Why should I choose Markel Direct's Insurance
Markel Direct has over 25 years of experience insuring contractors, consultants and self-employed professionals. We insure over 200,000 micro businesses and are highly rated by our customers at Feefo.com.
We are a division of Markel International, a Lloyd’s of London market insurer that wrote gross premium totals of £2.4bn in 2023
To talk about your insurance requirements and better understand our cover, call us on 0800 640 6600 or get a quick quote online.
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How are Markel Direct regulated?
Markel Direct is a trading name of Markel International Insurance Company Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Find out more on the Financial Services Register.
We are a division of Markel International, a Lloyd’s of London market insurer that wrote gross premium totals of £2.4bn in 2023
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