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Regardless of how many years experience you have or the thoroughness of your sign-off process, mistakes in designs can go unnoticed. When they are discovered, however, it can cost your client significant amounts of money to put things right - and if they hold you accountable, you could find yourself spending thousands of pounds on legal fees just to defend your claim (even if the mistake wasn't your fault).
Our specialist insurance for design engineers offers expert cover against these scenarios, and many more, for professionals working with CAD, CAE and other design applications.
Design engineer insurance is a suite of insurance products, including professional indemnity, public liability and employers’ liability, which have been created to meet the risks and requirements of the design engineering sector.
As a design engineer, you will likely work in pressured environments that require high levels of technical proficiency and accurate calculations and designs. Whatever your field of expertise, a strong knowledge of technical processes, systems, and equipment is critical. This can expose you to potential errors that can cause business disruption and loss of revenue to a client’s business, which can result in a claim being made against you for alleged negligence.

Tailoring a policy for your business is easy - our simple quote form will offer you a range of covers and you can buy them online instantly, including a proof of cover document to show clients and agencies you are fully insured.
You can choose to buy as many covers as you like, or only some of them - so you'll only ever pay for the insurance you want. Get an online quote now
If you have an existing policy with us, please sign in to view your policy documents.
Below you will find examples of the documents provided.
Professional indemnity insurance for engineers covers the cost of defending your business against allegations of professional negligence (such as giving your client incorrect or wrongful advice) and, if unsuccessful, the cost of damages awarded against you.
Examples of claims include:
PI insurance is usually a mandatory requirement for contract engineers requested by either the recruitment agency or directly by the client. We offer cover for a wide range of limits ranging from £100k to £5m.
Public and product liability insurance covers the cost of defending your business (including damages awarded against you if unsuccessful) if someone is injured, or their property damaged, which arises from you going about your business or supplying products.
If you visit client premises or sites as part of your business’ activities, it’s likely you’ll need this insurance cover. Like professional indemnity insurance, it’s usually a pre-requisite for recruitment agencies and/or clients. Limits range from £1m to £5m.
Employer’s liability insurance is a legal requirement if your firm has employees. This type of insurance covers your business against claims for injury or illness suffered by employees arising from their employment with you. If you have employees, regardless of whether they are full-time or part-time, you need this cover. Limit of £10m.
Commercial legal expenses insurance covers the costs of defending you as a director or officer of your company against allegations of wrongful acts and any damages subsequently awarded against you. Cover is also provided for the legal costs and expenses of defending actions for disqualification as a director, investigations and extradition proceedings. Limits range from £100,000 to £5m.
Directors and officers insurance covers the costs of defending you as a director or officer of your company against allegations of wrongful acts, and of any damages subsequently awarded against you.
Cover is also provided in respect of the legal costs and expenses of defending actions for disqualification as a director, investigations and extradition proceedings. Limits range from £100k to £5m.
Office insurance covers your office buildings, office contents and computer equipment against accidental damage (including theft) whilst on your business premises. You can also choose to cover your business equipment (such as laptops and mobile phones) on a worldwide basis, and insure your business against loss of income and/or additional trading expenses following events such as damage to your property.
Occupational personal accident insurance provides a weekly payment if you are unable to work due to temporary total disablement (subject to a 14 day deferment period).
It pays a lump sum in the event of:
- Loss of limbs
- Loss of sight
- Loss of speech
- Loss of hearing
- Permanent disablement
- Death
This cover could help you maintain an income if you are unable to work following an accident while working on an engineering contract, and would struggle to maintain a steady income while off work.
Cyber and data risks insurance pays the costs of restoring data and equipment, informing clients, meeting ransom demands and loss of your net profit following a cyber attack. It also pays your legal defence costs and damages you are legally liable to pay to other parties. If you hold confidential information about your clients' projects (including designs, schedules and other sensitive data) on computers and other internet connected devices, you should give consideration to this cover.
The cost of design and CAD engineer insurance depends on a range of factors, including:
Designer and CAD engineer insurance policies start from £5 per month* at Markel Direct.
*Based on an CAD engineer requiring £1,000,000 public liability cover.
These frequently asked questions are designed to help you and include questions relating to policy cover, pricing and ‘technical’ terms.
Yes. We provide a dedicated 'Confirmation of Liability Insurance' document (detailing the cover you have with us) as part of the documents that are emailed to you if you purchase your policy with us. You can present this document to agencies and clients as proof that you are insured.
In most cases, we can insure you if you do a proportion of your work abroad. Our quick and simple quote form will ask what percentage of your income comes from overseas and we can tell you instantly whether we can cover you or not. Alternatively, call us on 0800 640 6600 to speak to one of our contractor insurance experts.
We offer cover for a wide range of professions working offshore. Get an online quote now or call us on 0800 640 6600 if you'd prefer to speak to someone.
Professional indemnity insurance covers against allegations of professional negligence - which means it would cover you if you were to make an error or mistake in a piece of work (such as a project or report) for a client.
Public liability insurance covers against allegations of injury or illness caused to third parties by your negligence. This includes many of the slips, trips and falls that are associated with personal injury claims. In addition, public liability insurance covers against damage to third party property - for example, if you were to damage a client-owned laptop or smartphone.
As they insure against different scenarios, it's important you consider arranging both types of cover to ensure you are properly protected.
Many clients and industry bodies with regulatory requirements will require you to have a minimum level of cover for you to undertake a contract, so it's worth checking this before you arrange cover. If you're unsure, give some thought to a worst-case scenario and the likely costs involved in putting your mistake right. We offer a range of limits on insurance, so you're sure to find the right cover for your business.
Markel Direct has over 25 years of experience insuring contractors, consultants and self-employed professionals. We insure over 200,000 micro businesses and are highly rated by our customers at Feefo.com.
We are a division of Markel International, a Lloyd’s of London market insurer that wrote gross premium totals of £2.4bn in 2023
To talk about your insurance requirements and better understand our cover, call us on 0800 640 6600 or get a quick quote online.
Markel Direct is a trading name of Markel International Insurance Company Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Find out more on the Financial Services Register.
We are a division of Markel International, a Lloyd’s of London market insurer that wrote gross premium totals of £2.4bn in 2023
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As a specialist insurer of accountants and bookkeepers, we provide a range of useful services for you to access, included as standard with certain covers.
Whether you need to renew a policy, or modify an existing policy, or simply have a question, contact us.