What insurance do photographers need?

Regardless of whether you work as a full-time professional photographer or as a part-time freelance photographer, without the right insurance cover in place, your business could face financial ruin, following a claim. An allegation of a ruined wedding because of poor photographs or damage caused to hired property during a photoshoot could see you have to settle a claim for thousands of pounds out of your own pocket.

Listed below are a few cover options that you should consider, whether you’re a new photographer or someone more experienced who covers sports events or weddings. We can help you find the right cover to protect yourself against any unexpected situations.

Professional Indemnity Insurance for Photographers

What is Professional Indemnity Insurance?

Professional Indemnity Insurance also known as PI insurance or professional liability insurance protects you if claims are brought against you for providing advice or a professional service to customers/clients, as well as for handling client data or intellectual property.

Which basically means that it protects you if you are negligent or make a mistake that causes a financial loss to a client’s business.

Some areas that could lead to legal proceedings are:

• Intellectual property: unintentionally infringing on copyrights, trademarks, broadcasting rights, any act of passing off.
• Negligence: or breach of duty of care.
• Dishonesty: liability arising from the theft of your client's money.
• Documents/Data: damaged, stolen or lost data/documents belonging to your clients.

Professional Indemnity Insurance will pay all reasonable costs incurred in the defence (e.g. legal fees), or settlement of such claims arising from the above.

Why does a Photographer need Professional Indemnity Insurance?

It covers the cost of defending you/your business against allegations of professional negligence such as failing to provide acceptable pictures to your client and the cost of any damages awarded against you.

Examples of professional indemnity claims against photographers

• You carry out a wedding shoot for a client but the memory card corrupts and you lose all the photos. The client brings a claim against you for the cost of a re-shoot.
• You carry out a shoot for a commercial client but you fail to capture key elements the client requested. They take legal action against you for the cost of a replacement photographer and shoot.

We offer professional indemnity for all photographers whether you’re a wedding photographer, commercial photographer, freelance photographer or a part-time photographer we are able to provide a policy that protects you and your business.Get A Quote For Photographer's Insurance

Public liability

Public liability insurance is there to protect you and your business against the cost of claims made by members of the public (customers/people visiting your business), for incidents that occur in connection with your business activities, such as compensation for:

• Personal injuries.
• Loss of or damage to property.
• Death.

Examples of public liability claims against a photographer could be:

• A wedding guest trips over your tripod injures themselves and ruins an expensive dress. They make a personal injury claim against you seeking compensation and send you an invoice for the cost of replacing the dress.
• A client trips over a cable at a shoot and injures themselves. They make a personal injury claim against you seeking compensation.
• A venue alleges that your tripod has scratched an expensive floor and sends you an invoice for the costs to repair it.

Many venues or clients will require you to have public liability cover in place before letting you start work. Limits tend to range from £1 million to £5 million.

Employers Liability

Employers Liability Insurance protects you and your business against any liability arising from injury or illness sustained by employees whilst they’re working for you. Employers Liability Insurance also enables employees injured as a result of an employer's negligence to seek compensation, even if the business goes into liquidation or receivership.

Employee injury claims can be very costly. Here a few examples of how claims can arise:

• A cleaner injures her arm after falling over a mop.
• A self-employed contractor suffers serious leg injuries after scaffolding falls down.
• An office worker suffers from repetitive strain injury caused by excessive computer use at work.

Office and equipment cover

Office insurance protects your home or office-based photography businesses against the cost of replacing or repairing your business equipment if it is accidentally damaged, lost or stolen. You can also add a range of specialist covers to your policy such as:

• Portable equipment – cover for equipment outside of the office, such as laptops, cameras & lenses.
• Business interruption – cover for the financial losses that result from being unable to trade due to an unexpected interruption.
• Equipment breakdown – cover for the sudden electrical or mechanical breakdown of your office equipment.

Cyber and data risks insurance

Cyber and data risks insurance is designed to support and protect your business if it experiences a data breach or is the subject of an attack by a malicious hacker that affects its computer systems.

You should consider Cyber Insurance if your business:Get A Quote For Photographer's Insurance

• Holds sensitive customer detail. Such as name, address, date of birth or bank account details.
• Uses computer systems to conduct your business.
• Has a website.
• Uses an online payment and/or is subject to a payment card industry (PCI) merchant services agreement?

As your business could be vulnerable to a data breach or loss of vital business services.

You may also be interested in:

• Who needs professional indemnity insurance?
• Shop Insurance
• A Quick Guide To Office Insurance
• Why Do I Need Camera Insurance?
• Employers' Liability Insurance — Is A Legal Requirement