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Supply chain consultants
Logistics consultants need professional indemnity insurance because clients make large, long-lived commitments on the strength of their models, layouts, specifications and tender recommendations. A negligent network study, warehouse design or automation specification can cost a client far more than your fee without anything being damaged, so public liability will not pay. PI is written for that risk. Carriers’ liability for goods is a different exposure altogether.
Part of: Professional indemnity for consultants
In short
When a logistics consultant’s advice on sites, layouts, automation, racking or 3PL contracts is negligent, the client’s loss is usually financial, which public liability does not cover; PI does, subject to the policy terms. Racking and layout work is also judged against HSE’s warehousing guide HSG76, which expects an expert racking inspection at least every 12 months, and the Workplace Regulations on traffic routes. Consultants are not carriers: liability for goods in transit, including CMR liability on international road journeys, sits with the carrier. No law requires logistics consultants to hold PI, but clients commonly ask for it in consultancy agreements.
Last reviewed 5 October 2026 by the Apex professional indemnity team.
Public liability (PL) insurance pays for accidental injury to other people and accidental damage to their property. It responds if you knock a pallet off a rack during a site survey. It is not designed to pay when a client loses money because your recommendation was wrong.
Almost everything a logistics consultant sells is a recommendation. A network study tells a retailer how many distribution centres to run and where. A warehouse design fixes aisle widths, dock numbers and storage media for the length of a lease. An automation specification commits a client to equipment that can take years to pay back. A tender evaluation picks the third-party logistics (3PL) provider or haulier that will serve the client’s customers. When one of those calls is negligent, the loss can surface long after your project has closed.
Professional indemnity (PI) insurance covers your legal liability for that kind of financial loss, and the cost of defending the allegation, subject to the policy terms. The claim may come from the client that paid you, or from a third party who relied on your report, such as a lender funding a new site.
The scenarios below are illustrative. They show the kind of allegation a logistics consultancy can face; they are not real claims or outcomes.
The racking collapse also involves injury and property damage, which is where the boundary between your PI and PL policies matters most.
A claim is usually argued by comparing your work with what a competent logistics consultant would have done, using reference points like these.
| Source | What it says | Why it matters to your PI |
|---|---|---|
| Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982, s.13 | A business supplying a service must carry it out with reasonable care and skill (England, Wales and Northern Ireland). | The yardstick for most consultancy claims, and the one PI is written around. |
| HSE, Warehousing and storage: a guide to health and safety (HSG76, second edition, 2007) | Sets out how racking should be installed, protected, inspected and maintained, and how traffic routes and aisles should be laid out. | Layout and racking advice is judged against it, and an error can injure people as well as cost money. |
| HSG76, racking inspection | A nominated person responsible for racking safety sets the inspection regime, and a technically competent person should inspect at intervals of not more than 12 months, with a written report. | If you inspect or advise on inspection, a client may rely on your report until the next one. |
| Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, reg. 17 | Every workplace must be organised so pedestrians and vehicles can circulate safely. Traffic routes must be suitable and sufficient, with enough separation where vehicles and pedestrians share a route. | Yard, dock and aisle layouts are tested against this after an accident. |
| TUPE Regulations 2006, reg. 3 | A service provision change covers activities moving from a client to a contractor, from one contractor to another, or back in-house. | Outsourcing and re-tendering advice has to allow for staff who may transfer. |
| Carriage of Goods by Road Act 1965 | Gives the CMR Convention the force of law in the UK for contracts for the international carriage of goods by road. | This is carriers’ liability, not yours. See below. |
Most logistics advice is about cost and service. Racking and layout work is different, because a mistake can hurt someone, and HSG76 is the benchmark a claimant’s expert will use. The points that matter most:
Then check the insurance. Some PI wordings exclude bodily injury and property damage altogether, leaving it to public liability, while some PL wordings exclude injury or damage caused by professional advice or design. If you hold one of each, a racking collapse caused by your recommendation could fall between them. Close that gap before you take on racking design or inspection work.
Recommending hauliers, writing transport tenders and comparing carriers’ terms does not make you a carrier, and your PI is not designed to pay for goods lost or damaged on the road.
For international road haulage, the carrier’s liability is set by the CMR Convention, which the Carriage of Goods by Road Act 1965 gives the force of law in the UK. It applies to contracts for carrying goods by road for reward where collection and delivery are in two different countries, at least one of which is a contracting country. Under the Convention:
Those duties belong to the carrier and are insured under its goods-in-transit or CMR liability cover. Your exposure is the quality of your advice. If your tender report told a client that a haulier’s terms would cover a high-value, lightweight consignment in full, and the weight-based cap meant they did not, the client’s claim against you would be a PI claim about negligent advice.
Keep the line clear. If your firm starts buying transport or warehousing in its own name and reselling it, your contracts may make you answerable for the goods, which needs freight liability cover alongside PI.
| Usually covered by PI | Often excluded or limited | Needs a different policy |
|---|---|---|
| Negligent network, site and capacity modelling | Savings, payback or throughput you guaranteed in the contract | Goods lost or damaged in transit (the carrier’s goods-in-transit or CMR liability cover) |
| Errors in warehouse layouts and automation specifications | Bodily injury and property damage, depending on the wording | Injury or damage during site visits (public liability) |
| Negligent tender evaluation and contract advice | Acting as a carrier, forwarder or warehouse keeper, unless declared | Stock or freight you buy, hold or move as principal (freight liability or stock cover) |
| Racking advice and inspection reports, where declared | Fines and penalties | Injury to your own staff (employers’ liability) |
| Defence costs, including expert evidence on models and designs | Work for clients in the USA or Canada, unless agreed | Loss of client data or a cyber attack (cyber insurance) |
Wordings differ, and cover always depends on the insurer’s acceptance and the policy terms. Make sure the business description names what you actually do: modelling, layout design, automation specification, procurement, racking inspection and any project management of installations.
No law requires logistics consultants to hold PI, so the limit normally comes from the client’s consultancy agreement or procurement framework. It should follow the size of the decision your work supports, not your fee: a slotting review and a national network strategy carry very different risks.
PI is written on a claims-made basis, so it pays claims first made while the policy is in force, whenever the work was done. A network or automation decision can take several years to show its flaws, so keep cover running after a project ends and arrange run-off if you stop trading or join another firm. See run-off cover explained and what to do when a contract asks for a higher PI limit.
A complete proposal gets better terms than a bare one, and a broker can only present what you tell us. Have these ready:
Speak to a broker
PI for logistics consultants, placed by a named broker
Start the online proposal and save it as you go, or leave your number and a named broker will call you back, usually the same working day.
Apex Insurance Brokers is an independent insurance broker based in Bristol, established in 2009 and authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We are not tied to one insurer: we work with over 30 markets, including Lloyd’s syndicates through wholesale brokers, and every client has a named broker who handles the placement, mid-term changes, certificates for clients and the renewal.
Yes, if clients rely on your models, layouts, specifications or tender recommendations to make decisions. A negligent error can cost a client far more than your fee, and the loss is usually financial, which public liability is not designed to cover. PI responds to those claims and pays defence costs, subject to the policy terms.
No law requires logistics consultants to hold PI. In practice clients ask for it: retailers, manufacturers and logistics providers commonly set a minimum limit in consultancy agreements and frameworks, and some ask you to keep cover in place for a period after the project ends.
No. Loss of or damage to goods in transit is the carrier’s liability, insured under its goods-in-transit or CMR cover. For international road haulage the CMR Convention, given the force of law by the Carriage of Goods by Road Act 1965, sets that liability. Your PI responds only where your own negligent advice caused a client’s loss.
They can be, if inspection is in your declared business description. HSG76 expects an expert racking inspection at least every 12 months, and clients rely on the report until the next one. Check how your PI and public liability deal with injury or damage caused by advice, so a collapse does not fall between the two policies.
If the shortfall came from a negligent specification or calculation, PI may respond to the client’s claim, subject to the policy terms. A contractual guarantee of throughput, payback or savings is different: PI wordings commonly exclude liability you accept by contract beyond reasonable care and skill, so avoid guaranteeing outcomes.
Usually, if procurement and contract advice fall within your declared business. Claims tend to involve evaluation errors, missed costs such as staff transferring under TUPE, or contract terms that left the client exposed. Make sure the wording names procurement work.
Apex arranges professional indemnity insurance for logistics consultants across the UK. Tell us about your work and we’ll find cover that fits. Or call 0117 325 0027.
Start your PI proposal Call 0117 325 0027Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England and Wales, company number 07014570. This page is general information, not advice on your individual circumstances. Cover is always subject to the insurer’s acceptance and the policy terms, and this page does not guarantee that cover will be available or on what terms.
