Taking pictures for a living can be rewarding both professionally and financially, but anyone working in this form of media is vulnerable to certain risks. Due to the nature of the job, there will be times when clients are not completely happy, and mistakes can even lead to a legal claim. This is when photographer professional indemnity cover can provide a lifeline and pay for the legal costs of defending yourself in court. The main features of this cover include protection if you are accused of making an omission, or committing an error or act of negligence during your day to day work.
It will also normally cover you if you are accused of unintentional defamation. There are also times when you will need to pay out to fix one of your own errors, for example if you make a mistake when setting up on a job, meaning you later have to return to take a second set of pictures at the client’s request. In such circumstances photographer professional indemnity cover would pay for your extra costs.
Also included in most policies is protection for allegations of breach of confidence and even breach of copyright. All of these things are potential hazards for photographers, and could end up costing an awful lot of money to sort out if you do not have protection in place. Solicitors can be expensive to hire, and some cases can go on for a considerable period of time. If you have the right insurance in place you may not have to pay a penny beyond a possible excess.
As with most types of insurance, you will need to select the cover level and this will depend on the size of your business and what clients you normally deal with. Large picture agencies may want a higher payout ceiling than an individual freelance, for example.
As with other forms of cover, you can use your excess to reduce your premium. An excess is simply an initial fee you agree to pay before the cover kicks in in full. So if you have £100,000 worth of cover, and an excess of £1,000, you’ll pay the first £1,000 for any legal expenses, before the policy kicks in.
If you are retiring, changing job, or simply winding down the business, it can be sensible to get a period of ‘runoff’ cover which will continue to protect you even after you have stopped trading. Even then you may find a letter arrives on the door mat relating to a past incident, and if the photographer professional indemnity cover policy were to simply stop when you stopped working you would not be covered for this. If you are just sorting out cover or changing insurer, what is known as retroactive cover can even protect you against claims which relate to something which happened at the past.