public liability vs professional indemnity
Public Liability vs Professional Indemnity: What Trades Actually Need
Public liability covers the damage your hands do; professional indemnity covers the damage your advice does. Most trades need the first, more trades than realise it need the second - and if you take anyone on at all, even casual labour, employers' liability isn't a choice. It's the law.
Public liability: injury and damage from your work
Public liability (PL) pays out when your work injures someone or damages property that isn't yours - the ladder through the conservatory roof, the leak into the flat below, a customer tripping over your kit. Typical cover is £1m to £5m. It's not legally required, but try getting on a commercial site, a council framework or many domestic jobs without it - most contracts demand it before you start.
Professional indemnity: when your advice is the product
Professional indemnity (PI) covers negligent advice, design and specification. If you only ever install to someone else's design, your exposure is low. But the moment the thinking is yours, it changes: the electrician who designs and certifies an installation, the heating engineer who sizes a boiler and system, anyone giving technical advice on a survey. If the spec is wrong and the customer loses money, nothing was physically damaged - so PL won't respond. That's a PI claim, and without the policy it comes out of your pocket.
Who actually needs both
- Electricians designing circuits and self-certifying under Part P
- Heating engineers sizing boilers, radiators and heat pumps
- Builders offering design-and-build rather than build-only
- Any trade charging for surveys, reports or technical recommendations
- Kitchen and bathroom fitters producing their own designs
Employers' liability: the one that's compulsory
The moment you take anyone on - including casual, day-rate labour - you are legally required to hold employers' liability insurance of at least £5m. Not from your first PAYE employee: from your first helper. The penalty for going without is up to £2,500 per day. Labour-only subbies working under your direction usually count as employees for this purpose; genuine subcontractors with their own insurance generally don't - but be honest about which is which, because your insurer will be.
From the tools: A heating engineer my brother works alongside sized a system boiler for a loft conversion - his spec, his calculations. It couldn't keep up, and the customer claimed for a replacement plus redecoration: about £4,800. His public liability insurer declined it flat, because nothing was damaged - the advice was simply wrong. He had no PI at the time and paid out of his own pocket over eight months. Cover for his size of business would have cost him roughly £180 a year. He carries it now, and he quotes that story to any trade who tells him insurance is a racket.
Quick answers
What is the difference between public liability and professional indemnity insurance?
PL responds when your physical work hurts someone or wrecks something; PI responds when your design, specification or advice causes a financial loss. They cover different failures, and neither stands in for the other.
Do electricians need professional indemnity insurance?
If you design and certify your own installations, yes - certifying is professional judgement in writing, and a bad design decision is an advice claim your PL policy will not touch.
Is public liability insurance a legal requirement for tradespeople?
No law requires it, but commercial clients, councils and main contractors almost always do, with £1m-£5m the normal range. Going without mostly means going without their work.
Do I need employers’ liability insurance for casual labour?
Yes - £5m minimum, by law, from the first person you take on, casual or not. The fine runs to £2,500 per uninsured day, which makes it the most expensive corner anyone in the trades can cut.
This is general information for UK tradespeople, not legal advice. Every dispute turns on its facts - for anything serious, speak to a solicitor or Citizens Advice.
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