Indemnity insurance when you work for yourself

Most veterinary professionals never think about indemnity, because the practice holds it. Going independent, even part time, moves the question to you, and the answer is less obvious than it looks.

The gap most RVNs do not know about

The Veterinary Defence Society is the default insurer in UK veterinary practice. An individual RVN can hold their own VDS policy, and it is worth holding. But it does not do what most people assume.

The individual RVN policy indemnifies you for "criminal disciplinary representation costs relating to Normal Veterinary Nurses Work up to £150,000". That covers you if you face RCVS disciplinary proceedings or a criminal matter arising from your work. It is real and substantial cover.

What it does not do is stated just as plainly: the policy "does not provide Professional Indemnity Insurance for civil claims". Civil claims are the ones where a client seeks financial compensation for alleged negligence.

Who carries that cover instead? The VDS: "indemnity for civil claims is extended to the Practice and not to the individual Registered Veterinary Nurse."

Why this matters more than it used to

That structure assumes a practice exists and holds a VDS Professional Indemnity Policy. In conventional employment that assumption holds and nobody needs to think about it.

If you are working as a locum, or taking work through an agency or a platform, the assumption needs checking rather than assuming. The question is not "am I insured", it is "whose civil liability policy covers the work I am about to do, and does it name me".

The VDS itself advises locum RVNs and practices to confirm their respective insurance arrangements with each other before work starts. That is the right instinct and it applies to any arrangement, not only classic locum shifts.

What to ask before you take the work

1. Does a practice hold civil professional indemnity that covers this work, and does it extend to me as a non-employee?
2. If not, who does carry it?
3. Is there anything in writing, or is this a verbal assurance?
4. For vets: does my own cover extend to work done outside an employing practice, and to the setting I will be working in?
5. Does the cover contemplate home visits specifically, rather than only work on registered premises?

Get the answers before the first visit, not after an incident. An assurance given in an email is worth considerably more than one given in conversation.

Vets and nurses are not in the same position

Veterinary surgeons more commonly hold individual policies that include civil indemnity, though the terms vary and locum work is not always covered by default. Registered veterinary nurses face the structural gap described above. If you are an RVN considering independent work, this is the single most important thing to settle first, and it is more important than any question about rates or hours.

Where to confirm

Speak to the VDS directly about your own circumstances, or to a broker who writes veterinary professional indemnity. Policy wording changes and your situation may not match the general case.