Professional Liability (Errors & Omissions)
Professional liability (errors & omissions) insurance
Cover for the advice, designs and services you are paid to get right.
Errors and omissions insurance responds when a client says your professional work caused them a financial loss — advice that turned out wrong, a deadline missed, a specification that did not perform. It pays to defend you whether or not the allegation is fair, which is the point: being right is not the same as being free of legal costs.
Get early accessWhat it covers
E&O covers claims arising from your professional services: negligence, errors, omissions, and the failure to deliver what was promised. It funds your legal defence and any settlement or judgment up to your limit.
The trigger is financial harm rather than physical harm. A consultant’s recommendation that costs a client six figures, an architect’s drawing that forces a rebuild, or a bookkeeper’s filing error that draws a penalty are all E&O territory — none of them involve anyone getting hurt or anything being broken.
How it differs from general liability
The two policies answer different questions. General liability asks whether you injured someone or damaged their property. Professional liability asks whether your work was wrong.
If a client trips over your bag in their lobby, that is general liability. If the strategy in the report you left behind loses them a contract, that is E&O. This is why client agreements so often demand both, with $2 million general liability and $1 million E&O being a common pairing in Canadian contracts.
Why "claims-made" matters
Most E&O policies are written on a claims-made basis, meaning the policy that responds is the one active when the claim is *made* — not the one active when you did the work. Continuous coverage therefore matters more here than in almost any other line.
Two details follow from that. A retroactive date sets how far back your past work stays covered, so it should reach back to when you started practising. And if you close or switch insurers, extended reporting cover — a tail — keeps you protected against claims that surface later for work you have already delivered.
Sample pricing
| Business profile | Example coverage | Sample monthly | Sample annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo consultant | $2M general liability + $1M E&O | $45/mo | $540/yr |
| Technology / SaaS | $1M E&O + $1M cyber | $95/mo | $1,140/yr |
Indicative only — not a quote. Your premium depends on your industry, annual revenue, claims history, and the limits of liability you select.
Frequently asked questions
Professional liability
Who needs errors and omissions insurance?
Anyone paid for advice, design or a professional service: consultants, IT and software firms, accountants, engineers, architects, marketing agencies and brokers. Many regulated professions must carry it to hold a licence, and client contracts increasingly require it whether or not a regulator does.
What does "claims-made" mean on an E&O policy?
The policy that responds is the one active when the claim is made against you, not the one active when you did the work. That makes continuous coverage important: a retroactive date sets how far back your past work stays covered, and if you switch insurers or close the business, extended reporting cover protects you against claims that surface afterwards.
Does E&O help if the claim against me is unfounded?
Yes — that is much of its value. The policy funds your legal defence whether or not the allegation has merit, and defending an unfounded claim can still take months of legal work. Being right does not make the costs go away.
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