IT liability insurance for the work you do.

The professional indemnity half is for the work itself. A client says the system you specified, the code you wrote, the migration you ran or the advice you gave has cost them money.

The public and products liability half is for injury and damage. It covers you when someone trips on cabling you left across a walkway, when you bring down a rack in a client's server room, or when a visitor is hurt at your own office.

Professional indemnity works on a claims-made basis. The policy that responds is the one running on the day the client makes the claim. So a claim about a job you finished years ago lands on the policy you hold when it arrives. That policy must reach back far enough to include the work. On the policies we arrange, you also have to tell the insurer about it while that policy is running. The public and products liability half works the other way, from the day the injury or damage happened. How far back your cover reaches, and cover after you stop working, are on our professional indemnity insurance page.

You might build websites, develop software, install hardware or keep a client's systems running. On some policies, IT services are a closed list, and other work needs the insurer to add it. So the application you fill in for the insurer, called the proposal, needs to describe every kind of work you do. We check the work your policy describes and explain the restrictions that matter to your business.

• Code, websites and advice. If you develop applications, software or websites, or consult on IT, a client may blame a fault in your code or your advice for a loss. We explain how the proposed cover responds to that claim, including any promise your contract adds.
• Installation, repair and support. Hardware installers and repairers, helpdesk and support businesses, and communications and security-system businesses all work on a client's systems and around their equipment. One job can bring a claim about the work and a claim for damage, so we look at both covers together.
• Supply, configuration and project management. If you resell hardware or software or run IT projects, tell us what you supply, what you configure and what advice or support you give. The public and products liability half can respond to injury or damage from what you supply. The professional indemnity half can respond to claims about your advice and setup.

When your work fails, their systems go down and their staff sit idle until they can trade again. That loss builds by the hour, and its size has little to do with the size of your fee. It lands as a professional indemnity claim against you, not on your own cyber or property cover.

A published government minimum is a floor. The agreement you sign can ask for more. Our guide to what insurance you need for a government IT contract sets out what New South Wales asks of IT suppliers. It also says how long Queensland wants a claims-made policy kept running after the contract ends.

The limit on your certificate of currency, the proof of cover a client asks to see, is only part of it. On the IT liability policies we place, defending a claim is paid on top of your limit. On most, that defence money is capped at a further amount equal to the limit.

The contract can also promise more than the policy pays:

• A hold-harmless clause, where you promise to cover the client's losses from your work. Some of the policies we place cover that promise for the IT work you did. Others pay only the cost of defending that kind of claim, up to a cap. What the policy does not pick up is yours.
• Liquidated damages and service credits, the fixed sums a contract makes you pay for a missed deadline or service level. Most of these policies do not cover liquidated damages, and service credits are not written in, so either sum can come out of your business.
• Work for clients in the USA or Canada. Claims brought there are excluded or restricted. Some policies can add that work back by agreement with the insurer. On others the wording offers no extension, so we ask the insurer what it will agree. We find out which applies before you take the work on.

Before you sign, check whether the contract means each claim or the year in total, and whether a smaller cap for one kind of loss sits inside your limit. We go through both with you.

So an attack that locks your files and stops you trading is not what this policy is built for. Some IT liability policies can pay back your own money lost to a fake payment instruction. That is up to a set limit, and only where two people authorised the payment. Others carry no crime cover, or exclude this fraud outright. Where a policy has that cover, it is a crime benefit, not cyber cover. It does not reach ransomware, restoring data or notification costs. What a policy you already hold says about cyber still depends on its schedule and any endorsements. Endorsements are the changes the insurer has written onto it.

The two kinds of claim can arrive on the same day. A migration that loses a client's data can be a professional indemnity claim from that client and a cyber event inside your own business. On the cyber cover we place, the policy can pay your own costs after an incident, such as the response, restoring data, downtime and extortion, where those sections are on your schedule. The same policy also covers claims from others that flow from a breach of your systems or their data. Cyber insurance explains that cover.

If IT liability alone suits your work, we will say so. The answer can change when you hold sensitive client data, your revenue stops when your systems stop, contracts start asking for cyber, or you have moved from advising on systems to running them. A bigger IT liability limit does not add cover for your own losses. That comes from a separate cyber policy or a combined technology package. That package adds cover beside professional indemnity and liability: cyber, and on some packages property, business interruption, legal expenses and directors' cover.

Two businesses doing the same work can land on different answers, because their contracts, the data they hold and their budgets differ. So we compare the options side by side. You see what each one costs, what it covers and what could still fall to your business. Whichever you choose, we take the sections, sub-limits and terms up with the insurer, and your schedule and endorsements record what was agreed. Our technology insurance page shows that package and when it fits. For a business that writes code or builds websites, software developer insurance shows where the line falls.

A claim might be a client blaming your work for a loss, or someone hurt because of your business. Where the policy is one we look after, a specialist claims manager on our team will manage it with the insurer. Your broker stays involved and keeps an eye on its progress. We do the following up, so you can get back to the work. The insurer makes the decision on cover.

If a client ever complains about your work, tell us straight away. On some of the policies we arrange, a spoken demand from a client already counts as a claim you must report. On others, only a written demand does.