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Quality and compliance
Quality assurance consultants need professional indemnity insurance because clients rely on their systems, documents and audits to win and keep contracts. If a system you built fails its certification audit, or a supplier audit you signed off misses the nonconformity behind a recall, the client’s loss is financial and can dwarf your fee. Public liability does not cover that. PI does, subject to the policy terms, as long as you have not promised outcomes that only a certification body can deliver.
Part of: Professional indemnity for consultants
In short
ISO 9001:2026 was published on 16 September 2026, replacing ISO 9001:2015. UKAS says accredited certification bodies must stop taking new applications against the old version from 16 March 2028 and move all certified customers to the new edition by 30 September 2029. Quality consultants implement systems, write documentation and run internal and supplier audits, for which ISO 19011:2026 gives guidance. Certification is a separate, impartial decision: UKAS explains that accredited certification bodies cannot offer both consultancy and certification. Claims follow failed certification audits, missed supplier problems and wrong transition advice. No law requires QA consultants to hold PI, but clients often ask for it.
Last reviewed 5 October 2026 by the Apex professional indemnity team.
Public liability (PL) insurance covers accidental injury and damage, such as a visitor tripping over your bag during an audit. Quality assurance consultants rarely cause losses that way. You design management systems, write quality manuals and procedures, run internal audits, audit suppliers on clients’ behalf and coach teams through certification. Clients rely on that work to win contracts, keep approved-supplier status and stop defective products leaving the building.
UKAS notes that a growing number of public and private sector buyers require their suppliers’ management systems to be certified, and that increasingly they accept only certificates from accredited certification bodies. So when a system you built fails its audit, or a supplier you approved turns out to be the source of a defect, the loss is commercial: a lost tender, a suspended supply agreement, a recall. Nothing has been damaged by accident, and PL is not designed to respond.
That is the job of professional indemnity (PI) insurance. It meets compensation you are legally liable to pay because of negligent advice, documentation or auditing, plus the legal costs of defending the allegation, subject to the policy terms.
These examples are illustrative only, written to show the allegations quality consultants meet in practice. None is a real claim or a reported case.
The first four are negligence allegations of the kind PI is built for. The fifth shows why outcome guarantees are a risk you usually carry yourself.
When a client claims, its expert will compare your work with the requirements of the standard you were implementing or auditing against, and with recognised guidance on auditing.
| Standard or rule | Content | Relevance to a claim against you |
|---|---|---|
| ISO 9001:2026, Quality management systems: requirements | The sixth edition, published in September 2026, replacing ISO 9001:2015, which ISO now lists as withdrawn. UKAS says the most significant changes relate to interested parties, quality culture and ethical behaviour, risks and opportunities, planning of changes and management review. | Systems you build or audit will be judged against the edition in force when you did the work. |
| UKAS transition arrangements for ISO 9001:2026 | Accredited certification bodies must stop accepting new applications against the previous version from 16 March 2028 and transition all certified customers by 30 September 2029. | Transition advice is time-critical and easy to get wrong. |
| ISO 19011:2026, Guidelines for auditing management systems | Guidance for auditors carrying out first-, second- or third-party audits, published in May 2026 as the fourth edition. | Internal and supplier audits are judged against recognised audit practice. |
| ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 | Sets principles and requirements for the competence, consistency and impartiality of bodies that audit and certify management systems. | Certification is a separate, independent decision that you do not control. |
| UKAS on impartiality | Impartiality is a key component of accredited status, which means accredited certification bodies cannot offer both consultancy and certification services. | Your advice fills the gap the certification body cannot fill, so clients rely on it heavily. |
| Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982, s.13 | When you provide a service in the course of business, the contract carries an implied promise to use reasonable care and skill. Applies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. | The benchmark your advice is held to if a client sues. |
The separation between consultancy and certification is what makes accredited certificates worth having. UKAS explains that accredited certification bodies cannot offer both services, and ISO/IEC 17021-1 sets the impartiality requirements they are assessed against. The certification body decides whether to certify. You do not.
That has three consequences for your PI:
Supplier audits need the same discipline. State the scope, the sample and the date, and that the audit reflects what you saw. A report that reads as a clean bill of health for the supplier’s whole operation invites a claim when something outside your sample goes wrong.
ISO 9001:2026 was published on 16 September 2026, and almost every certified client will ask you what to do and when. UKAS describes the revision as targeted updates rather than fundamental change, but transition advice still carries risk because it is about dates.
Give clients the published dates, tell them to confirm their own timetable with their certification body, and put that advice in writing. Gap analyses against the new edition are professional work like any other, so make sure your PI business description covers them.
| Usually covered by PI | Often excluded or limited | Needs a different policy |
|---|---|---|
| Negligent design of management systems and documentation | Guarantees of certification, timescales or pass rates | An auditee’s employee injured by your carelessness on site (public liability) |
| Errors in internal and supplier audits | Product recall costs, or claims connected with recalls | Your own staff (employers’ liability) |
| Wrong advice on standards and transition deadlines | Disputes over your fees | Client data lost in a cyber attack (cyber insurance) |
| Interim quality management and training, where declared | North American clients or jurisdictions, unless the insurer agrees | Claims against you as a director of a client company (directors’ and officers’ liability) |
| Defence costs, including expert evidence | Circumstances you knew about before the policy started | Laptops and equipment (office or business equipment cover) |
No two policies read the same, and what is covered turns on the insurer accepting the risk and on the wording itself. If you work in aerospace, automotive, medical devices or food, name the sector and its standards in your proposal, because supplier audit claims in those sectors can involve recalls.
No law requires quality assurance consultants to hold PI. The limit is usually set by clients and prime contractors in consultancy agreements and procurement frameworks. Think about the size of the contracts your clients win or keep because of your work, and the cost of a recall in the sectors where you audit suppliers.
PI is claims-made, which means the policy in force when a claim is made is the one that responds. Quality failures often surface late: a supplier problem at the next recall, a system weakness at the next surveillance audit. Keep cover continuous and arrange run-off if you retire or close the business. See claims-made and occurrence cover and run-off cover explained.
A complete proposal gets better terms than a bare one, and a broker can only present what you tell us. Have these ready:
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PI for quality assurance 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. Clients rely on the systems you build and the audits you carry out to win contracts and keep defective products away from customers. If your work is negligent, the client’s loss is commercial rather than physical, so public liability is not built for it. PI is, and it also meets the cost of defending you, subject to the policy terms.
No law requires quality assurance consultants to hold PI. In practice clients, prime contractors and procurement frameworks often set a minimum PI limit in consultancy agreements, particularly where your work supports certification that a supply contract depends on, or where you audit suppliers on a client’s behalf.
It may, if the failure was caused by negligent advice or documentation, subject to the policy terms. It will not usually cover a promise that the client would pass, or a refund you offered. The certification body decides independently, so record what the client was responsible for implementing.
Not if it is accredited. UKAS explains that impartiality is a key part of accredited status, so accredited certification bodies cannot offer both consultancy and certification. That separation is why clients lean on independent consultants, and why your advice, not the auditor’s, is what a client will claim against.
UKAS says accredited certification bodies must stop accepting new applications against ISO 9001:2015 from 16 March 2028 and transition all certified customers by 30 September 2029. Each client’s own timetable depends on its certification cycle, so tell clients to confirm dates with their certification body.
Usually, if supplier auditing is in your declared business and the audit was negligent. Claims can be large where the problem leads to a recall, and some wordings exclude or limit recall-related losses, so check the policy and set your limit with the sectors you audit in mind.
Apex arranges professional indemnity insurance for quality assurance 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.
