Professional indemnity insurance

Please update your PII policy information in your IPReg account when you renew your PII policy.  When you are logged into your account, go to the Professional Indemnity Insurance tab (if you are a sole trader) or go to the Entity Practice Details tab of the Entity Account (if a registered or licensed body) and input your new PII policy information.

Paragraph 3.9-3.12 of the Rules of Conduct set out IPReg’s requirements in relation to risk management and the holding of professional indemnity insurance. These apply to registered and licensed firms, as well as to those acting as a Sole Trader.  Any attorney providing services to the public is required to have in place a PII policy commensurate with the risks associated by their practice, and that meets IPReg's Minimum Terms and Conditions (see below).  This includes any attorney working through a firm that is not regulated by IPReg. 

The insurers that have signed agreements to meet IPReg’s Minimum Terms and Conditions (MTCs) are:

• PAMIA Limited
• Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE

We are happy to have discussions with any other insurers who are prepared to meet IPReg’s MTCs and to become a participating insurer.  Please contact us. 

IPReg wants to facilitate innovation and competition in the provision of IP legal services.  We have set up a professional indemnity insurance sandbox to enable the testing of alternative PII arrangements.  The PII sandbox will provide a way for regulated persons to obtain professional indemnity insurance from insurers who are not on IPReg’s participating insurers list.  For more information, see here.  

The Minimum Terms and Conditions for the indemnity year 2021-2022 have been updated from the previous version (in force since 2016-2017) to include express wording affirming cover for claims made as a result of a Cyber Act or Cyber Incident (as defined in the Minimum Terms of Conditions).  See new clause 1.1.7 and added exclusions at clauses 6.5 and 6.6.  These changes are necessary because of the regulatory obligation on insurers to be clear about whether they do, or do not, provide cyber insurance under their PII policies. PAMIA’s Terms of Cover for 2021-2022 have been similarly updated.  We view that the changes ensure no loss of or reduction in the scope of cover under the Minimum Terms and Conditions.

In 2021 we introduced the Compensation Arrangements Rules.  These regulations protect individual consumers and small businesses in the event that they are the victim of fraud or failure to account on the part of a regulated person and where a claim against a regulated person’s professional indemnity insurance cannot be made.  These Rules should be read in conjunction with the Guidance to Claims on the Compensation Fund.  If you think you are eligible to make a claim against these Rules, please contact us.

In February 2024, we applied to the Legal Serices Board ('LSB') to make some changes to the Compensation Arrangements Rules.  Our application can be viewed here and the supporting annexes, here.  The actuarial report referred to within this application was provided separately to the LSB and given its confidential nature it will not be published.  The LSB's  decision, once received, will be published.