Telling your insurer early is not admitting anything. It is how the cover stays alive.
Professional liability policies are claims made. They answer for claims first made against you while they are running and reported as the policy requires, rather than for the year the mistake happened. The date of the work still matters, because most wordings will not answer for services performed before the policy’s retroactive date. A client complaint you keep to yourself for six months puts your cover at risk.
Build the practice file Read the short answer firstReporting is what triggers cover.
A quiet phone call is not a report.
Report it even if you think it is nothing.
When do you have to tell your insurer about a problem?
As soon as you know about something that might turn into a claim, not when the claim arrives. British Columbia’s Lawyers Indemnity Fund, which is the compulsory program for BC lawyers rather than a consultant wording, says it in one sentence: “Report in writing immediately if you become aware of an error or any circumstances that might give rise to a claim, however unmeritorious.”
Your own wording is what sets your duty, and most professional liability wordings say something close to the same thing. The words to look for are notice of circumstances. Where the wording carries that clause, a circumstance you report properly is generally treated as a claim made in that policy year, even if the client does not sue until years later. That is the mechanism that carries the matter back to the policy that was on risk, when you change insurer or when the policy ends. Not every wording has one, and what the notice has to contain varies.
The instinct is to fix it quietly and only tell the insurer if it turns bad. That is backwards. Fixing it quietly is often the right thing to do, but the report should go in at the same time, because the report is what fixes the date. Read the Lawyers Indemnity Fund on reporting (opens in a new tab).
Four things a report should contain.
The date you found out
Not the date the work was done. The policy cares about when you first became aware, so put that date in writing while you still remember it exactly.
What was said, and by whom
A short factual note. The email or the meeting, the person, and the words they used. Attach the message itself if there is one.
What you have done since
Say whether you have offered to redo the work. Do not admit liability or agree to pay anything before you have spoken to the insurer.
Nothing you would not want read out
Write it as a record of facts. Guessing in writing about whose fault it was helps nobody, and it does not stay private.
Three complaints, three outcomes. All three are illustrations, not client files.
The email nobody forwards
A client writes that the report has cost them money. The consultant apologizes and moves on. A letter of claim arrives much later, under a different policy, and the insurer asks why it was never reported.
The report that does its job
A firm reports a circumstance, then switches insurer a few months later. The claim arrives after the switch. The earlier policy is the one it attaches to, because that is where it was reported.
The quiet fix that also gets reported
A consultant redoes the work at their own cost and reports the circumstance the same week. No claim follows. The file is opened, sits there, and closes with nothing paid.
The questions consultants ask about this.
Will reporting a circumstance put my premium up?
It can be taken into account at renewal, the same as anything else on the file. Not reporting it and having the claim declined is the far worse outcome.
What if the client never actually sues?
Then the file usually closes with nothing paid. A reported circumstance that goes nowhere is a normal part of a professional practice.
Can I report it after I have tried to fix it?
Report it while you fix it. The report sets the date, and the date is what decides which policy answers.
Does an angry email count?
If it points at your work and suggests a loss, treat it as one. The test is whether it might give rise to a claim, not whether you think it will.
I have changed insurer since it happened. Who do I tell?
This is exactly the situation the reporting rule exists for, and it is worth a call rather than a guess. Tell your current insurer straight away and say when you first became aware.
Two that sit next to this one: whether defence costs come out of your limit, and what errors and omissions cover actually answers for.
Not the question you came with? Send it through the short contact form and we will answer the one you actually have.
A complaint is easier to handle in week one.
Send us what the client said and your current wording. We will tell you what it calls a circumstance and what it does not.
Checked for technical accuracy by Amrit Sidhu of S&S Insurance Services Ltd. Last checked 28 September 2026.