Town Planning Consultants Insurance
Planning advice is acted on before anyone knows whether it was right. A client buys a site, commissions a design team and commits fees on the strength of an opinion about what is likely to be permitted, and if that opinion was wrong the resulting loss may include professional fees, holding costs and other expenditure incurred in reliance on the advice.
The loss is usually delay rather than damage. A refused application, a missed deadline or a condition not discharged costs holding charges, professional fees and sometimes the site itself, and none of that involves anything physical going wrong.
Judgement is central, which cuts both ways. Planning outcomes are genuinely uncertain and cannot generally be guaranteed, so the defensible position is a recorded, reasoned opinion. Where the advice was given verbally and the caveats were not written down, that defence is much harder.
We can advise planning consultancies on professional indemnity, including appeal work, viability assessment and the position where advice is given early in a transaction.
Common claims and risk exposures
The exposures that produce claims in this trade, rather than a generic list.
Advice relied on to buy a site
A purchaser proceeds on an opinion about development potential. Where permission is refused and the site is worth materially less without it, the difference is the claim, and the sums involved dwarf the fee for the advice.
Missed deadlines and procedural failures
Appeal deadlines, judicial review windows and time limits for discharging conditions are absolute. A missed date cannot usually be repaired, which makes these the clearest and least defensible claims in the class.
Conditions not identified or discharged
Permissions carry conditions, some requiring discharge before development begins. Starting work without discharging a pre commencement condition can invalidate the permission, which is a serious and expensive problem to unwind.
Viability and section 106 assessment
Viability work influences affordable housing and contribution levels. An assessment challenged successfully, or one that proves wrong, produces a financial claim from the developer or a dispute with the authority.
Informal advice given early
Much planning advice is given in a call or an email at the start of a transaction, before any appointment exists. Clients rely on it exactly as if it were formal, and the absence of terms of engagement removes the practice's usual protections.
The cover we arrange
We arrange professional indemnity and related insurance around the services you provide, the clients you work with and the contractual requirements you face. The appropriate cover and limits will depend on your individual activities and the terms available from insurers.
Professional indemnity
Claims arising from negligent planning advice, applications, appeals and representations. Claims made, and the natural fit for a profession whose advice is tested months or years after it is given.
- Planning advice and appraisals
- Applications, appeals and hearings
- Missed deadlines and procedural error
- Defence costs, often in addition
Consequential financial loss
The loss in this class is economic: holding costs, wasted professional fees and diminution in site value. The policy needs to contemplate pure financial loss rather than only damage to property.
- Wasted professional fees
- Holding and finance costs
- Diminution in land value
- Delay costs
Expert witness and appeal representation
Where the practice gives evidence at inquiry or acts as expert, that role carries its own exposure and should be disclosed rather than assumed within general consultancy.
- Evidence at inquiry and hearing
- Expert witness work
- Representations to authorities
- Disclosed separately
Run off
Continuing cover after the practice ceases. Planning claims surface when a scheme fails or a site is sold, which can be years after the advice was given.
- Continues after the practice ceases
- Claims surface late
- Commonly six years
- Arranged before closure
Cyber and office cover
Application files, evidence and correspondence are the practice's record and its defence. Losing them to ransomware weakens the ability to defend a claim as much as it disrupts the work.
- Case files and correspondence
- Ransomware and restoration
- Office equipment and contents
- Business interruption
What an underwriter will ask
Having these to hand shortens the process considerably, and usually improves the terms.
- Fee income and its split between advice, applications, appeals and viability work
- Whether work is for developers, landowners, authorities or objectors
- The largest scheme advised on, by units or by site value
- Whether advice is given at acquisition stage, before an appointment exists
- Terms of engagement used, and whether informal advice is confirmed in writing
- Diary and deadline management systems
- Whether expert witness work is undertaken
- Claims and notified circumstances over the last six years
What affects the cost of your insurance?
The main factors insurers consider when assessing the premium.
Scheme size and client type
Advising major residential developers on large schemes carries greater exposure than householder and small commercial work, because the sums that turn on the advice are larger.
Acquisition stage advice
Advice relied on to buy land is the sharpest exposure, since the claim is the difference in site value. Practices doing a lot of it are rated accordingly.
Deadline management
Documented systems for diarising statutory deadlines matter more here than in most professions, because missed dates produce the least defensible claims.
Engagement discipline
Written terms, recorded scope and confirmation of verbal advice in writing all improve terms, because they are what makes a claim defensible at all.
Conditions and exclusions to consider
Terms vary between insurers, so treat these as the questions to ask rather than a description of any one policy.
Guaranteeing a planning outcome
No consultant can promise a permission, and any appointment that appears to do so creates an obligation beyond reasonable skill and care that the policy will not answer.
Advice outside a recorded engagement
Informal advice is not excluded as such, but defending it is far harder without terms, a scope and a written record of the caveats given.
The authority's decision itself
A refusal is not negligence. The claim has to be that the advice fell below a reasonable standard, not that the outcome was disappointing, and that distinction is where most of these disputes are resolved.
Trading and fee disputes
Unpaid fees and commercial disagreements are not claims, though pursuing fees often prompts a negligence counterclaim that is.
Common questions
Can we be liable if permission is simply refused?
Not for the refusal itself. Planning outcomes are uncertain and nobody guarantees them. Liability arises where the advice fell below a reasonable standard, a deadline was missed or a material consideration was overlooked, which is why recording the reasoning behind an opinion is the best protection available.
A client acted on advice we gave in an email before being appointed. Where do we stand?
Potentially liable, since a duty can arise without a formal appointment where advice is given knowing it will be relied on. It is one of the most common exposures in this class, and the practical answer is to confirm caveats in writing even on informal advice.
What limit of indemnity should a planning consultancy carry?
It follows the value of the decisions your advice supports rather than your fees. Advice relied on to buy a site can produce a claim measured in the site's value, which bears no relation to the fee charged for the opinion.
Is viability work rated differently?
Yes, insurers treat it as a distinct exposure because the figures influence affordable housing and contributions, are frequently scrutinised by the authority and are sometimes challenged publicly. Disclose the proportion of income it represents.
How do I get a quote from True Risk Solutions?
Call 01304 262880 and speak to a broker, or email info@truerisksolutions.co.uk with what you do, what you need cover for and a phone number with the best time to call, and a broker will call you back. We need a phone number to quote, because the cover and the price depend on questions that are quicker to answer on a call than by email.
Speak to a specialist who understands your industry
Tell us about your business and the work you undertake, and we will come back to you with cover options built around it. Call 01304 262880, or email us with a phone number and the best time to call and a broker will ring you back.