FAQs 

What is RIBAIA?

How long has RIBAIA been involved in professional indemnity insurance?

Is RIBAIA a ‘dedicated’ service for Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) members?

How does RIBAIA work with RIBA?

What makes the cover RIBAIA is offering different to other providers?

Does the wording meet the Architects Registration Board (ARB) requirements?

2. OBTAINING COVER

I am currently uninsured, how do I set about getting insured?

How will you go about preparing my quotation?

I have already completed my current insurers proposal form, can I use that instead?

My practice is a new practice, how should I complete the form?

Does being a partnership, LLP or Limited Company affect the insurance arrangement?

How much cover should I buy?

What are the factors that influence the level of the premium I will need to pay?

What happens if I need to increase the limit of indemnity during the year?

Can I pay my premium by instalments?

What do I need to do if I employ a sub-consultant?

3. COVER AVAILABILITY

Can I obtain cover for just one single project?

I am required to provide an increased indemnity for a project.  Can my policy be amended? 

Can I obtain cover for work in North America?

Can I obtain cover for work overseas – ex North America?

Can I obtain cover for work involving asbestos?

Do I need to maintain cover when I retire and if so, for how long?

Can I purchase a one-off ‘run-off policy’?

If I go on holiday/sabbatical for an extended period, will this affect my policy?

4. DEFINITIONS

What does ‘any one claim’ mean?

What is the ‘Policy Excess’?

What is a ‘collateral warranty’ and how does this affect my insurance?

5. CLAIMS

If I make a claim, what impact will this have on my future insurance premium?

What is a claims ‘reserve’ and how is it calculated?

What is adjudication and how does it work?

What do I need to do if a claim is made against me?

What is RIBAIA?

RIBAIA is a market leader in the supply of professional indemnity insurance to architectural practices. It is the official insurance broking partner of RIBA (the only insurance broker endorsed by your Institute) and provides advice and support to hundreds of RIBA members, arranging professional indemnity policies which are custom made for the architectural profession.  We now also offer other classes of insurance to RIBA Members. 

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RIBAIA is itself a division of Heath Lambert Limited.  RIBAIA draws on a tradition of service in the professional indemnity sector which stretches back to the 1920s. RIBAIA is the only professional indemnity broker endorsed by the RIBA.

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Yes – Because most of the staff who work for RIBAIA only work on the provision of professional indemnity insurance for Architects, you can be sure that the people dealing with your day-to-day needs have the in-depth practical knowledge and experience to ensure you receive a first class technical and administrative service.

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RIBAIA enjoys the full support and endorsement of your Institute – members of RIBA and practising Architects sit on our management board to ensure that our work on your behalf is always in-touch with the latest developments.

This special relationship means that this is the only scheme in the market whereby members can appeal directly to the President of RIBA if a claim is turned down on the grounds of innocent non-disclosure.

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In response to feedback from a wide cross-section of RIBA members – people running practices just like yours – we have negotiated a scheme with some of the UK’s leading providers of professional indemnity insurance.

The result is a policy specifically designed for RIBA members which includes cover for asbestos, toxic mould and collateral warranties.

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Yes.

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RIBAIA have a number of options to reflect the risk profile of a practice.  The first two options allow for an online quotation, the third necessitates a completed proposal.

Your pracitce has a fee income of up to £60,000.

Your practice has a fee income between £60,000 and £1,000,000.

Your practice has a fee income of £1,000,000 and over

If you need furher assistance or advice then please call 020 7234 4025

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How will you go about preparing my quotation?

Practices with fee income up to £60,000 should use our fully automated quoting system. Click on the PI Quote tab above to access the system.

Practices with fee income between £60,000 and £1,000,000 will currently need to complete a proposal form. Click on the PI Quote tab above to obtain a proposal form.

A quotation will be provided by an insurer, who because we are placing a large number of RIBA member practices with them, are able to offer competitive premiums and the exclusive RIBA wording. 

For practices over £1,000,000 to address your specific needs we will undertake an exercise involving a significant number of insurers both in the Lloyd's and Company markets, for which we will need a completed proposal form and full details of your claims history. Click on the PI Quote tab above to obtain a proposal form.

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I have already completed my current insurers proposal form, can I use that instead?

The new two-page proposal forms which we have developed for practices with up to three and between four and seven Architects, has been specifically designed to meet the needs of our insurers. Therefore, you should complete the appropriate RIBAIA form and send that to us with a copy of your current proposal and any supporting documentation.

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Please complete the form using estimated figures for your first year of trading.

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The question of whether you should trade as a partnership, LLP or a Limited Company is ultimately one which you should discuss with your solicitor and accountant.

Where you trade as a partnership, the partners retain joint and several liability. This means that if the limit of indemnity on your insurance policy were to be exceeded then all of the partners could be pursued to the extent of their own personal assets to recover any additional costs.

Where the status is LLP personal liability is more restricted, although the members are still responsible for any loss and can still be pursued at a personal level for recovery.

Limited Company status – where the company is a legal entity in its own right – by its nature confers the highest degree of individual protection.

However, where Professional Indemnity insurance cover is concerned, the constitution of your practice does not matters as the policy purchased protects the named policyholder(s) against the claims brought against them. Ultimately, the key is to ensure that you purchase the right level of cover to cover the extent of any potential liabilities.

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There is no simple answer here because each practice needs to be considered on its merits with factors such as the types of work undertaken and the volumes involved influencing the decision. However you will need to take into account your contractual obligations and the requirements of your clients. 

The ARB recommendation is a mimimum of £250,000.  However, you should also consider your potential exposure to third parties where your liability cannot be capped.  The limit normally selected is a balance to reflect the requirements of your clients, your view on exposure and premium cost.

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Insurance premiums are based on a wide variety of factors not all of which are specific to the individual practice. Key factors include the type, size and location of the projects and the claims history is also considered. In addition, the number of insurers willing to write a particular type of business, the overall claims experience and the degree to which insurers are prepared to compete to obtain that business can all affect premiums.

On a wider scale, just like any other market in goods or services, the insurance marketplace as a whole, is affected by issues such as the general economic situation (where there is growth then the amount insurers can earn through investing their income is greater); the prevalence of major catastrophes, like hurricanes, which can cost the insurance industry significant sums of money and trends in the type of claims being brought and the cost of settlements (the so-called ‘compensation culture) can all affect overall premium trends.

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If you need to increase your limit of indemnity at any stage, simply write to your regular RIBAIA contact providing details of the contract requiring the increased limit. We will obtain a quotation for which you will need to complete a no claims declaration and provide us with your acceptance in writing.

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We have negotiated competitive finance arrangements to enable you to pay your premium greater than £1,000 by instalments.

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Where you appoint a sub-consultant as far as your client is concerned you are accepting responsibility for them and, if a claim arose from their service to you, your client is likely to seek to recover that loss from you. This would mean that you and your insurers would need to use what is termed your right of subrogation to recover the loss from the responsible party (the sub-consultant).

You will, therefore, need to have a formal contract in place – RIBA includes a sub-consultants form in its documentation. You should also check the Professional Indemnity insurance of your sub-consultant. Ideally, it should be at least equal to your own and be maintained in accordance with the requirements of your contract. If you are asked to sign collateral warranties, then you should also seek such documentation from the sub-consultant(s) as well.

You should never agree to waive your insurers rights of subrogation unless this has been discussed with your Insurance Broker and the position has been accepted by Insurers. 

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Within the UK insurance marketplace, single project cover is not generally available.

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I am required to provide an increased limit of indemnity in respect of particular project, can my policy be amended accordingly?

It is generally uneconomic to look to increase the indemnity limit for one project and therefore in most cases the indemnity limit would need to be increased under the policy as a whole. 

As a PI policy provides cover only during its duration (usually 12 months) you would need to leave the increased indemnity in place until you no longer have the exposure to a claim or as required under contract.  In practice, once an indemnity is increased, they rarely are reduced to the original amount.

There are products (the OPPI Policy being one) where the Principal would arrange excess coverage e.g., £10,000,000 in excess of £10,000,000 meaning they could recover £10,000,000 from the Architect and £10,000,000 under their own coverage.  The OPPI Policy offers no cover to the Architect but allows the Principal to insure against their potential losses which might exceed the Architects level of Professional Indemnity.  The OPPI Policy must be arranged by the Principal and must remain confidential to the Principal.  It does NOT cover the Architect. 

However, Architects can make the Principal aware of such coverage in order to resolve the problems concerning requiring higher levels of indemnity. 

The other advantage is that the OPPI Policy period matches the contract period which could exceed 12 months.   

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Can I obtain cover for work in North America?

Work in the USA can be covered as part of a package with certain, specific insurers. However, as a general rule the premium will be higher where North American work is covered because of the legal systems involved and both the size and nature of claims which are brought in those territories.

In contrast to the ‘any one claim’ coverage provided in the UK cover for North America would be arranged on what is termed an ‘annual aggregate basis’ and would be inclusive of costs, meaning that the total available under the policy for all claims (including defence costs) in North America during a given period of insurance would be restricted to the limit of indemnity provided by the policy.

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Overseas work outside North America is generally less of an issue with insurers and our RIBA policy in its standard form extends to cover work in the member states of the European Union. If you need cover for work outside this geographical area, please let RIBAIA know and specific arrangements will be negotiated.

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Our new RIBAIA policy includes cover for Asbestos.

The cover provided is up to a limit of £1,000,000 indemnity written on what is termed an ‘annual aggregate basis’ inclusive of costs (but only in respect of the direct costs – personal injury claims are excluded) and expenses. This means that the total available under the policy for all claims, inclusive of costs, during a given period of insurance would be restricted in total to a maximum of £1,000,000 limit of indemnity or as agreed.

Clearly, given the timescale during which Asbestos has not been used in construction, then the only situations where problems might arise should involve its discovery in old buildings where the contractual liability has expired. However, situations such as the examination and refurbishment of such buildings can still have the potential to lead to problems if its presence is not discovered. Where you suspect that Asbestos is present our recommendation is that you should ensure that your client directly appoints a specialist to deal with this issue.

It must be stressed that the Asbestos cover afforded is extremely limited and does not cover bodily injury which could lead to the majority of claims and settlement figures can be extremely high. 

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The simple answer here is ‘yes’. Depending on the type of contract you have been involved with during your working life, there may be continuing liabilities in areas such as latent defects and personal injury. However, the law in this area is not clear and you should take legal advice before arranging cover.

How ongoing cover will be provided will depend very much on your circumstances.  If you are employed by a firm and they continue to trade after your retirement, then you should be automatically covered for work you have done and would continue to be covered providing they maintain PI coverage. 

If you are a "sole trader" or intend to wind-up the business on your retirement, then you would need to continue to renew your policy or look to purchase "run-off" cover.

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Can I purchase a one-off ‘run-off policy’?

Run-off cover is usually provided by way of continuing to renew your annual policy for at least six years.  Subject to claims the premium will reduce each year until it reaches a minimum.  If you are a small business with minimal work in your last years of trading and are claims free, it may be possible to purchase a one-off policy.  This is an annual policy but affords an additional five years for extended notificaitons (in effect six years).  The premium is circa 300% of the last annual premium. You would need to have insured through RIBAIA for at least the last five years of trading and to be totally claims free. 

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The key to taking an extended holiday/sabbatical is to consult your insurers. They will want details of the cover you are proposing to have in place for the period of your absence; who will be handling any queries involving your past work and where you can be contacted if there is a problem. Ultimately, armed with such information it is a case of RIBAIA seeking the agreement of your insurers.

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‘Any one claim’ means that for each claim that occurs the full limit of indemnity is available. For example, if you had a limit of indemnity of £1,000,000 and three claims were made on your policy during your insurance year, then the full £1,000,000 limit would be available for each of them.

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This is the first part of any claim which is your responsible to pay.

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A collateral warranty is a contractual agreement made with a third party other than your client. Typically this is likely to be the funder of the development, or its purchaser or tenant.

The more commercial a project and the more complex its structure, then the more likely it is that a collateral warranty will be requested.

It is always advisable to seek legal advice where collateral warranties are concerned and RIBAIA can provide you with a service to provide this advice regarding Professional Indemnity insurance.

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Making a notification of a circumstance which may give rise to a claim would not in itself affect future premiums.  Depending upon the size of a firm, multiple notifications would also not necessarily affect future premiums. 

Notifications can be seen as a firm being on top of their PI procedures and management being cautious, which Insurers welcome.  Insurers try to be realistic when considering claims reserves.  They must balance underestimating a claims settlement potential with a reserving philosophy which can affect their solvency margin.  As a consequence, Insurers will not establish a reserve on a claim unless they feel it necessary and/or as advised by their lawyers.   

The position Insurers will adopt with regards to premiums will then depend upon the size of a firm.  A large firm paying large premiums will not have their premiums increased just because a claim is settled.  However, a small firm with low premiums having a large claim paid or reserved may find their premiums increasing. 

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A claims reserve is an amount of money set aside by insurers to fund their potential involvement in the resolution of that claim. In addition to an amount for the likely damages the total amount reserved by the insurer will include all of the costs that the insurer believes it is likely to incur in defending the action. In some cases the reserve may be limited to costs alone.

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The process of adjudication is designed to offer a solution to a dispute within a set timescale. The adjudicator will require basic statements of the issues, responses to those statements and will also listen to the parties involved.

However, it is important to remember that insurers require that the right of appeal is retained against the adjudicators decision in case the ultimate decision of the adjudicator is deemed unreasonable or unacceptable.

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If you are made aware that a claim is going to be made against you please call a member of the claims handling team on 020 7560 3034.

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