My visits to the dentist always worry me. I have treatment, but may not know for months or years whether that treatment was necessary and competently completed. Might I have a claim? Should there be a time limit on that claim?
The financial advice I provide may well last longer than my teeth (and I hope is of better quality). But if I do make a mistake I think my clients should have as much right to redress at one year as at 15 years and a day – or longer. The long-stop is just unfair, because the cavities in my advice may not reveal themselves for very many years. That is one argument.
But there is another, equally valid argument. I also believe that I should be able to retire from my business without having to bear ongoing insurance costs. And if I do not wish to have or cannot afford insurance in my twilight years, I will face a burden of fear and potential financial ruin. But the two opposing camps of long-stop and no long-stop can easily and, I suspect, reasonably cheaply be reconciled by the professional indemnity industry itself, which can take a lesson from employer liability insurance. Each period of insurance covers employee claims, even when those claims are submitted long after that business has ceased trading and no longer pays for insurance. So why not PI?
I would certainly welcome – and would pay more for – a policy that covers past business and future potential claims on that business or, indeed, a lump-sum premium for indefinite run-off cover.
David Carter
Chartered Financial Planner,
Jigsaw Financial Solutions,
Tiverton, Devon
