You sold advice. They acted on it.
Cover for consultancies whose product is judgement: the advice you give, the client data you hold, and the contracts that decide who carries the loss.
Consultant insurance
Usually includes
Professional indemnity
Cyber & data
Public liability
Employers’ liability
Office & contents
Portable equipment
One
conversation.
You explain the business once, and we take it from there.
Bespoke service
for your business
No two businesses are the same, so we start with yours rather than with a template.
Everything
quoted together.
Your advice, the data you hold and the office behind it, priced in one go rather than piece by piece.
Know your cover
What is consultant insurance?
A consultancy carries almost no physical risk and a great deal of professional risk. The exposure is not the office, it is what a client does after taking your advice, and what your contract said would happen if that advice was wrong. Cover is built around professional indemnity, with cyber alongside it because the client data sits on your systems, and the usual liabilities behind both.
It covers the advice
Professional indemnity responds to a claim that your work or recommendation caused a client a loss.
It covers the data
Client information on your laptops and cloud systems, which is somebody else’s to lose.
It does not cover the outcome
A project that disappoints is not the same as negligence. The policy responds to the second, not the first.
Who it’s for
Whatever you advise on.
✓
Management and strategy consultants
Advice that reshapes how a client operates, often with a business case attached.
✓
IT and technology consultants
System selection, integration and migration work carried out on a client’s estate.
✓
Change and programme managers
Running delivery for a client, with their outcomes and their deadlines.
✓
Data and analytics consultancies
Client data brought onto your systems to be modelled and reported on.
✓
Independent and associate consultants
Sole practitioners and small partnerships contracting directly with clients.
✓
Consultancies with associates
Your own people plus the associates you subcontract work to.
What we cover
Cover built around your engagements.
We ask what you advise on, who for and under whose contract before we approach anyone. Then show you what’s available, and you decide what fits.
Professional indemnity
The claim that your advice, design or recommendation caused a client a financial loss.
Cyber & data
Client data on your systems, and the payment diverted after a convincing email.
Public liability
Injury or damage caused while you are working on a client’s site.
Employers’ liability
Required by law from your first employee, including staff who only ever work at client sites.
Office & contents
The office if you have one, the fit-out, and the equipment wherever your people work.
Portable equipment
Laptops, phones and equipment used away from a fixed base, which is where consultancy work happens.
Business interruption
The fees lost when your systems, your office or a key supplier stop working.
Management liability
Claims made against you or a fellow director personally rather than against the company.
Legal expenses
Recovering unpaid fees, an employment matter, and the cost of defending a client dispute.
Who this cover tends to suit.
This cover is generally bought by consultancies selling advice, analysis or delivery, from an independent practitioner to a firm with associates and a client list. Not every part will apply to every business, so tell us how you’re set up and we’ll show you what’s relevant.
Worth knowing
Check the details before you choose.
Professional indemnity works on claims made
It responds to claims brought while the policy is live, not to work done while it was live. That is why cover normally has to continue after you stop trading.
Your contract can widen the exposure
Accepting an obligation to a standard higher than reasonable skill and care, or an uncapped liability, can put a claim outside the policy. Send us the contract you sign.
Retroactive cover decides whether old work is insured
New cover often excludes work done before it started. If you have been trading uninsured, or switching insurer, say so at the start.
Associates need declaring
Work subcontracted to associates is usually still your liability to the client. It changes the presentation and sometimes the price.
Every engagement is different.
A strategy review and a system migration don’t carry the same risk, so we ask different questions for each.
Management consulting
Strategy advice
IT consulting
System selection
Systems integration
Cloud migration
Programme management
Change management
Data and analytics
Business transformation
Interim management
Process improvement
Associate networks
Public sector work
Retained advisory
Project delivery
Management consulting
Strategy advice
IT consulting
System selection
Systems integration
Cloud migration
Programme management
Change management
Data and analytics
Business transformation
Interim management
Process improvement
Associate networks
Public sector work
Retained advisory
Project delivery
Why Vara
Bespoke service for you & your business,
without the big-firm minimum.
01
The contract is the exposure
What you signed up to matters as much as what you did. We read the terms before we present the risk.
02
Claims made, not work done
Continuity and retroactive dates decide whether an old job is covered. We ask about both up front.
03
Client data sits on your devices
Consultancy runs on other people’s information held on your own devices. Cyber is not an afterthought here.
04
We present the risk right
Fee income, work types, client sectors and claims history. How it’s framed changes what you pay.
You talk to a person. The machines do the typing.
Free review of your consultant cover and costs.
On a policy that treats a consultancy like an office? Leave your details and we’ll call you straight back. One conversation covers the lot.
What the review covers
We go through the policy you have now, so you can see what it does and doesn’t cover against a claim about work done under a contract that widened your exposure beyond the advice itself.
We point out the terms that catch consultancies out most often, how the retroactive date decides whether old work is covered and associates need declaring, so you can check yours.
We approach insurers on our panel who write management and IT consultancy risks, and come back with what they’ll offer.
We explain each option in plain English, including what it doesn’t cover.
If it’s not a risk we can place, we’ll tell you straight away rather than leave you waiting.
No obligation to switch. You decide what fits.
Rather not wait? Call us on 0333 091 3663
Good to know
Consultant insurance questions, answered straight.
What insurance does a consultancy need?
What does professional indemnity respond to?
What does claims made mean?
I have been trading without professional indemnity. Can I get cover for past work?
Does my client contract affect the cover?
Are the associates I subcontract to covered?
Do I need cyber cover if my data is all in the cloud?
What limit of indemnity should I have?
Vara Commercial Insurance · 0333 091 3663
Vara is a trading name of Koral AI Operating Company Limited. Vara is an appointed representative of Innovative Risk Labs Ltd, under Firm Reference Number 1060955. Innovative Risk Labs Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, under FRN 609155. We are registered in England and Wales under Registered Company Number 17256222. Registered office: 167-169 Great Portland Street, 5th Floor, London, W1W 5PF.