Consultant Insurance
Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane & Canberra

For an independent consultant, the insurance discussion should focus on the work you accept and the decisions it can influence. Describe your specialist field, the industries served and the format of your advice. A workshop, written assessment, implementation assignment and interim management role can involve different responsibilities. Explain whether you work alone, use subcontractors or join a client’s team under their direction. Include work delivered through your own company as well as any other contracting arrangement. The broker needs a clear description of your role rather than a broad label that could describe many unrelated professions.

Think about the boundaries of each engagement. You may be asked to recommend an approach, select a supplier, oversee delivery or sign off that work has achieved a specified outcome. Explain which of these tasks you perform and where the client retains the decision. Include access to premises, systems and confidential information. Ask how the proposed wording relates to the services actually declared, third-party reliance and relevant exclusions. A client’s insurance requirement may establish a requested limit, but it does not determine the scope of protection or mean that every promise made in the engagement is insured.

Keep a clear engagement record that identifies the question you were asked to answer, the information available and the deliverables agreed. If the client changes direction, record the change and any effect on timing, fees or conclusions. Retain the version of advice supplied and the context in which it was intended to be used. A recommendation based on incomplete data should not lose that qualification when it is summarised for another audience. Discuss how client approvals and reliance restrictions are documented, and seek appropriate advice where a contract requires you to accept responsibility beyond the work you control.

Bring your standard terms and a representative client contract to the broker, including schedules and special conditions. Review indemnities, confidentiality, intellectual property and any requirement to maintain cover after the assignment. Keep subcontractor instructions and review records if others contribute. Consider how project documents remain available when your access to the client’s systems ends. Do not remove confidential material without the necessary authority; instead, clarify an appropriate record-access arrangement. The objective is a usable and lawful project history that can support a future response, rather than a personal archive assembled without regard to the client’s information controls.

If a client disputes your work, establish whether the concern is about scope, quality, timing or an alleged financial loss. Preserve the original advice and supporting material before making corrections. Obtain guidance on the relevant insurance notification process, especially if the wording requires claims or circumstances to be reported in a particular way. Seek advice before accepting liability or offering compensation. Where an urgent clarification is needed to prevent continued reliance on incorrect information, coordinate the response with appropriate professional support. Keep the communication factual and do not silently replace a disputed report without retaining its history.

Review your cover when the consulting role changes, not only at the annual renewal. Taking an interim executive position, implementing recommendations or advising a new industry can alter the exposure. If you retire, sell the business or stop providing a service, ask the broker about prior-work and continuity considerations under the relevant products. Plan who could access authorised records and contact clients if you became unavailable. A current description of your professional work and its history supports the insurance review, while the suitability and response of any policy remain dependent on the circumstances assessed and the selected terms.