Having proper insurance not only covers you in the event of a claim, but shows your clients that you are professional about your coaching practice.

Please Note: If you are planning to bid for public sector coaching contracts, it is essential that you have adequate insurance - if not your bid will usually be automatically rejected.

Holistic Insurance provides an excellent policy that combines extensive cover with affordability. It is suitable for both new and established coaches, including those that combine coaching with other techniques and approaches such as business consultancy, mentoring, hypnotherapy, NLP and EFT.

The standard premium is just £48.50 and provides cover for working with individuals or business clients, and workshops.

More details

What's covered?
The policy provides cover with a limit of indemnity of £5,000,000 for malpractice, professional indemnity, public and products liability insurance.

This means that you are covered for the following:

Malpractice/Professional Indemnity covers activities like:

• One-to-one Coaching/Mentoring (face-to-face and telephone)
• Group Coaching
• Workshops

Public Liability covers things like:

• Trips and falls, etc on your premises

Products Liability covers things like:

• Electronic products, e.g. e-books, MP3 downloads, podcasts
• Physical products, e.g. books, manuals, CDs

The policy covers all types of coaching including life coaching, executive/corporate coaching and business coaching. Other therapies and techniques such as Hypnotherapy (excluding stage or entertainment hypnosis), Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) are also covered provided that you hold recognised qualifications. Coaches who also offer business consultancy may opt to take additional cover for this activity. If you provide a specialist form of coaching or other services and you are in doubt as to whether you will be covered, you are advised to contact Holistic Insurance.

Please note that there is no inner limit for libel and slander, and you will have cover up to the full limit of indemnity.

The policy is written on what is called a "Losses Occurring" basis, so as long as cover was in force when the incident happened, then subject to the policy wording, terms and conditions the claim will be dealt with by the insurers. The policy will also include a full retroactive cover which means that if you later stop practicing as a coach you will continue to be covered for any incidents occurring while your insurance policy was in force.

Legal Expenses Cover
Also included is commercial legal expenses cover for legal defence costs in respect of disciplinary hearings and for legal/accountancy costs incurred as a result of an Inland Revenue or VAT investigation. The limit of indemnity for this section is £500,000, and there is an inner limit of £100,000 per claim.

Please note that this cover is written on a "Claims Made" basis - which means that the policy must be in force at the time a claim is made against you. This section is underwritten by Abbey Legal Protection.

Cover for Business Equipment
There is an optional extension available to provide cover for your business equipment. Please indicate on your Proposal Form if you would like to add this cover to your policy.

Fees and Levies
All figures noted above include Insurance Premium Tax of 5% and administration fee.

Policy Terms and Conditions
There is no policy excess other than under the damage to rented premises section, where you would have to the first £100.00 each and every claim.

The policy provides cover for coaches who are permanently resident in Great Britain and Ireland (if you are based in Ireland, please call Holistic Insurance Services for a quote) - however you are covered to work anywhere in the world with the exception of the USA and Canada. Please note that any court action must be brought against you in either a British or Irish court.

If you coach internationally and have clients based within the USA or Canada, please contact Holistic Insurance to discuss your cover.

The following cover restrictions will apply:

1. Coaches working with Children and Young People - It is a condition of this insurance that parental or guardian consent is obtained prior to the commencement of any coaching or mentoring sessions. If the coach does not have CRB clearance then at least one parent or guardian must be present at all times. If CRB Clearance is not applicable, then parental/guardian consent must be given for the child to be in your sole custody.
2. Executive/corporate coaching and business coaching - The Insurer shall not be liable for any Claim or Claims arising out of or relating to any profit and/or costs forecast, whether specific or implied.

All other terms, conditions, exclusions and limitations in this policy remain unaltered.

If you would prefer to get the form from Holistic Insurance's website, you can do this as follows:

1. Go to www.holisticinsurance.co.uk
2. From the homepage, under 'information for you' click on 'proposal forms'
3. At the bottom of the next page there is 'association proposal form request'. Insert your email address, and use the code Hannah McNamara as the association name.
4. Click on submit, and the system will email you the information

About The Underwriter

They pride themselves on their personal service and aim to offer as wide a list of therapies as possible within a premium which we believe to be excellent value.

Their staff receive specialist training so that the needs of each client are fully understood.

Holistic Insurance Services aim to provide a same day turnaround for the issue of all documentation.

In the event of an incident occurring they are here to talk to you and offer the advice that you need, at what can be a difficult time.

Should you require any further information regarding Holistic Insurance Services then please feel free to call them on 00 44 (0) 845 222 2236 or e-mail them on info@holisticinsurance.co.uk. Their website is www.holisticinsurance.co.uk.

The policy is underwritten by Novae Insurance Company Ltd (www.novae.com).

Novae Insurance Company Ltd is a Stock Exchange listed company with a share capital of £100,000,000 and has been rated A- by A M Best the recognized world expert on insurance company security. A- is the highest level that is awarded to any new insurer.

Novae is the renamed and rebranded SVB Group, the restructuring took place in June 2006 and is fully authorised by the Financial Services Authority. In addition to the insurance company Novae operates through Lloyd's of London.

Novae specialise in professional indemnity, malpractice, general liability and directors and officers insurance, writing primarily in the UK. With their specialist underwriting teams they offer a first class service, those insuring through Novae Insurance can be assured that their business is understood by the underwriters.

Holistic Insurance Services and Novae Insurance Company are Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

If you would prefer to get the form from Holistic Insurance's website, you can do this as follows:

1. Go to www.holisticinsurance.co.uk
2. From the homepage, under 'information for you' click on 'proposal forms'
3. At the bottom of the next page there is 'association proposal form request'. Insert your email address, and use the code Hannah McNamara as the association name.
4. Click on submit, and the system will email