1800 556 777Covers: professional indemnity
NDIS professional indemnity insurance for support workers
Professional indemnity covers claims that the care or advice you gave left someone hurt or out of pocket. If you knock something over or someone trips while you work, that's public liability.
We're brokers, so we compare professional indemnity from insurers and arrange it for you or your business.
Reviewed by Frans du Plessis, founder of Grace Insurance
Diploma in Broking, Fellow CIP · Last reviewed 30 October 2026
What professional indemnity pays for
A claim can come from a participant, their family or another organisation that says your work let them down.
Three kinds of claim it's for:
Care
You don't follow part of a participant's support plan and they're hurt as a result.
Advice
You tell a family something about their supports and they lose money acting on it.
Paperwork
A report or record you wrote is wrong, and someone relies on it.
It can also pay the legal costs of answering a claim, even one that turns out to be wrong. The insurer's policy document lists what's included and what isn't.
Public liability vs professional indemnity
Both covers pay for claims made against you. The difference is what went wrong.
| Public liability | Professional indemnity | |
|---|---|---|
| What went wrong | An accident while you're working | The care or advice you gave |
| Made-up example | You knock a vase off a participant's shelf while you vacuum. | You skip a step in a participant's mealtime plan and they choke. |
| Who claims | The person hurt, or the owner of what was damaged | The participant, their family or an organisation that relied on you |
The same shift can lead to either kind of claim, so check which covers your agreements ask for. Public liability insurance for NDIS support workers →
Who asks you to hold it
Registered NDIS providers
At your audit, the auditor checks your insurance against the rules for registered providers, called the NDIS Practice Standards. The part about insurance is called a quality indicator. It says:
“Appropriate insurance is in place, including professional indemnity, public liability and accident insurance.”
NDIS Practice Standards ↗Workers with an ABN (Australian Business Number) through a platform or agency
The platform or agency may say what insurance it expects in its terms or your contract. Read both before you buy cover, so you don't pay twice for the same shifts.
Support worker insurance →Workers with their own clients
A participant or their plan manager can ask for professional indemnity in your service agreement, the written agreement about your support. Before you start, check the agreement and send us the part about insurance.
Independent support worker insurance →
Claims-made cover and your retroactive date
Some professional indemnity policies are claims-made. That means the policy you have when someone claims is the one that pays, not the one you had when you did the work. Your policy document says whether yours is claims-made.
Claims-made policies may have a retroactive date, the earliest date of work the policy will cover. Check yours in the policy schedule, the page that sets out your details and cover.
Before you change insurers or stop working, ask us two things:
- whether the new policy keeps your retroactive date
- how you'd be covered for a claim about past work
Tell the insurer every kind of support you give
The insurer prices and covers the work you describe. A claim about work you didn't tell them about may not be covered.
List everything you do, for example:
- personal care, like showering and dressing
- community access, like outings and appointments
- teaching daily living skills, like cooking or budgeting
- writing plans, notes or reports
If you start a new kind of support, tell us before your first shift doing it.
What we'll ask to quote professional indemnity
Get a professional indemnity quote
Tell us about the support you give and we'll get professional indemnity quotes from insurers.
We'll want to know:
- every kind of support you give, from personal care to writing reports
- whether you're registered, on an ABN or both
- the cover amount, if an agreement, platform or contract names one
- whether you write plans or reports others rely on
- any claim or complaint made against you before
An insurance broker that arranges cover for NDIS support workers and providers, Australia-wide.
Professional indemnity questions
Get a quoteDo NDIS support workers need professional indemnity insurance?
The Practice Standards name it for registered providers, and your auditor checks it. If you're not registered, a platform, agency, participant or plan manager can still ask for it before you start.
What does professional indemnity cover for a disability support worker?
It covers claims that your care, advice or paperwork hurt a participant or cost someone money. It can also pay your legal costs. The policy document sets out what's covered.
Does professional indemnity cover a privacy breach?
Some policies include it and some don't. If you keep participant notes or records, ask us to check the policy document for you.
I'm a sole trader. What work should my professional indemnity policy list?
Every kind of support you give, so list all of it when you ask for a quote. On an ABN, you can hold professional indemnity in your own name, and we can arrange it.