Why do I need web designers’ insurance?
Unhappy clients
You’ve come to the end of a website redesign where the client made a major change to the brief halfway through, resulting in a challenging project. These amends caused the project to overrun, and the client believes the final product hasn’t lived up to expectations. A web designer insurance policy could help if a client argues that the work you’ve produced doesn’t deliver what they wanted and brings a claim against you, by helping with legal costs and compensation pay-outs.
Intellectual property
Another web designer declares a design you’ve produced for your client’s homepage banner to be their original work. Despite their assertion, you’ve never heard of them or ever knowingly seen their creative. Then, another client claims they are unhappy with your work and moves your project to another designer. When designing a client’s website, it could be a good idea to produce thorough and clear contracts to establish who owns the intellectual property. It may also help to have an insurance policy for this scenario, for unexpected plagiarism claims.
Technical problems
While integrating your client’s CMS into their refreshed website, your computer crashes. It’s not a quick fix and work has to stop while your machine is repaired – this puts your small business at risk of losing time, money and future work. Understandably, the client is unhappy with the delays. Web design insurance can help to cover the cost of repairs and replacements and it also assists with data recovery if anything is lost or stolen. With the right cover, you could quickly get back on track, hitting client deadlines.
What cover is included in insurance for web designers?
Professional indemnity insurance
Professional indemnity (PI) is generally considered a key insurance policy for web designers due to the nature of the industry. A client might decide to make a claim if they believe their reputation has been damaged or they’ve lost money because of the work you’ve carried out on their site. When things don’t go to plan, whether it’s you, someone else in your business or even a sub-contractor who’s made a mistake, a PI policy could help to deal with the cost of legal action and compensation claims.
Public liability insurance
When you’re planning web design projects with your clients, you might arrange meetings in their office, yours or even in a café. Your client could take action if they trip on a piece of loose carpet in your office, injuring their ankle, or if you accidentally knock their tablet off a table. Without the protection of public liability insurance, the costs associated with a claim could be damaging to a small business – a policy can cover legal costs, compensation and expenses.
Portable equipment insurance
Your laptop is an integral part of your web design business – this piece of equipment is the difference between you meeting and missing deadlines. You’re working during a train journey between meetings when the passenger next to you spills their coffee on your keyboard, rendering the laptop unusable. Having portable equipment insurance as part of your web designer insurance policy helps with the cost of repair or replacement, quickly getting you back to business.
There are many other policies that might combine to create a comprehensive package of cover for a web designer including employers’ liability insurance, personal accident, legal protection and cyber cover.
These are just some of the types of business insurance for web design firms that we can offer. We can provide other specific types of cover and build them into a policy that’s tailored to the exact needs of your business.
Get your quoteInsurance for web designers FAQs
Is insurance a legal requirement for web designers?
As a limited web design company with employees, you might be legally required to have an employers’ liability insurance policy in place. While it’s the only policy that could be required by law, there are others that might be considered important for your business.
Public liability insurance can cover you for many situations where you interact with members of the public. Meanwhile, professional indemnity can sometimes be a requirement of regulatory bodies – and clients might ask you to have a policy in place, too.
Would business insurance cover my past work?
A business insurance package including professional indemnity insurance can cover past work for a web designer. Keeping this cover in place from the moment you set up your business is necessary to be covered for past work – but switching provider doesn’t usually affect this. PI cover may be used for claims relating to events from any date within the period you have continuously held cover.
Professional indemnity insurance can provide cover for disputes, negligence claims or confidential data breached in relation to projects you’ve previously worked on.
Related articles and guides
What insurance do I need as a freelancer?
As a freelance web designer embarking on a new venture, you might require new insurance – discover which policies you could need with this guide.
How much professional indemnity do I need?
The amount of insurance you get as a web designer could depend on your circumstances, learn how much professional indemnity cover you might need with this article.
Professional indemnity claim stories
Setting up a small business is a steep learning curve – in order to appropriately safeguard your venture, read these professional indemnity claim stories.