Retro what?

Professional indemnity policies will usually have this thing called a ‘retroactive date’.

This is the most confusing part of professional indemnity.

In a recent survey we found that over 60% of respondents did not understand what this meant.

I think there could be 3 reasons why people are not understanding this:

1. Their insurance provider is not explaining this correctly (or at all)
2. It is a rather confusing concept
3. People are not listening!

It is important to understand this as you may otherwise not be covered.

In short, any activity you undertook BEFORE your retro date would not be covered.

Example:  your policy incepts on 1^st April 2014.  Your retro date is 1^st April 2014.  This means that any activity you did before 1^st April is not covered.

Another example:  your policy incepts on 1^st April 2014.  Your retro date is 1^st Jan 2014.  So a claim arising from any activity you did before 1^st Jan 2014 is not covered.