All physiotherapists must have appropriate indemnity as a condition of their registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). Find out what coverage you have under the CSP professional liability insurance (PLI) scheme.
Information on this page is for guidance only and nothing on this web page overrides the meaning with the policy wording.
On this page:
All members of the CSP, except categories GA-graduate affiliate, Q-overseas and C-non-practising, benefit from the CSP professional liability insurance (PLI) scheme. It is your responsibility to understand the terms and conditions of the scheme by reading the full policy documents.
Changes to the PLI scheme from 1 July 2024
- Exclusion: No cover for acupuncture/needling used around the thorax and/or thoracic organs. The thoracic organs are defined as the oesophagus, heart, lungs, thymus and trachea. Cover remains until 1 July 2024 subject to policy terms and conditions. Read our FAQs.
- Clarification: Updated wording for supervision requirements for students at UK higher education institutions who undertake overseas practice placements as part of pre-registration qualifying hours.
- Republic Of Ireland: HCPC registered physiotherapists with a residential address in the ROI and who join in the full-practising (B) category of membership, will benefit from PLI cover, subject to policy terms and conditions. Read about insurance and the ROI.
Please contact your business insurers or James Hallam for advice before making any changes to your existing cover.
The basics
The CSP PLI scheme provides two separate insurance policies for you:
- Medical Malpractice Insurance: This covers claims for personal injury to your patients arising from your work e.g. failing to assess and treat properly or harming your patient with your treatment.
- Public Liability Insurance: This covers non-personal injury claims that are not associated with your treatments e.g. slips, trips and falls coming in and out of your clinic.
At a glance
The scheme covers you for all your individual physiotherapy work:
- For all activities within the scope of physiotherapy practice. Physiotherapy is a profession, not an intervention, and many interventions we use can, in a different context, be used by other practitioners.
Visit our scope of practice pages to understand if what you are doing is within the scope of the profession. Some activities within the scope of the profession are excluded from cover. Check our exclusions for details. - Wherever you work – hospital, clinic, gyms, sports venues, patients’ homes and anywhere else that you work with your patients.
- Whether you are full- or part-time.
- If you have more than one place or type of work.
- If you work in healthcare, education or social care settings for paid, unpaid and voluntary work.
- For 'return to practice', student practice placements and work experience arrangements.
- Undertaken in the UK, and allows you to work overseas (but not in the USA, Canada or Australia) for up to 180 days without needing extra insurance.
Employers are responsible for insuring their employees. If you undertake work outside of any employment contract, you must you ensure you have appropriate insurance in place.
Separate insurance may be required for some types of corporate entities and businesses formed by members. The CSP scheme is not business insurance. Separate insurance is required if you are not working within the scope of physiotherapy practice. This includes overseas development, humanitarian and general voluntary work. If you are not sure whether you are doing any given activity as a physiotherapist, see our scope pages.
Advanced practice (AP) / advanced clinical practitioner (ACP) roles
The CSP PLI scheme only covers work within the scope of physiotherapy practice (subject to terms and conditions). Work within AP/ACP roles may involve undertaking activities beyond the scope of physiotherapy practice and these will not covered by the CSP PLI scheme. See our clinical services and scope of practice pages. How might this affect you?
- Where you are directly employed by an NHS organisation, your work, including the aspects outside the scope of physiotherapy practice, will come under the indemnity arrangements of the NHS (CNST/CNSGP).
- Where you provide your services directly to an NHS organisation through your own company or via a locum agency, the indemnity provision for your work may still fall within the remit of NHS schemes. You must make sure you understand the contract that you have with the NHS organisation and whether indemnity is provided by the NHS or not. Keep a copy of your contract and indemnity terms.
- In independent practice where the NHS contracts with other non-NHS providers to provide NHS services, and the private provider then sub-contracts the work down to you, either via your own company or via a locum agency, the indemnity position may not be clear. Where the indemnity liability falls to you, the CSP PLI scheme only covers work within the scope of physiotherapy practice, and you will require separate insurance for all activities outside the scope of physiotherapy practice. Keep a copy of your contract and indemnity terms.
- In other independent practice, such as work in sport, which may be using job titles/roles that have originated in the NHS, work as a designated 'ACP' is not covered by the CSP PLI scheme and you will need your own insurance.
- Members should seek their own contract/business advice if they are unclear on how they are working might affect indemnity provision. Members should also make sure they have a written job description for any work they undertake so they understand if they are expected to work as a physiotherapist or not.
Terms, conditions and exclusions to the scheme apply. You must read the policy documents to understand what these are and whether they affect your work. If you need other types of insurance, contact the CSP's insurance broker, James Hallam, for advice.
- Download evidence of your insurance.
- For insurance policy wordings, see the key documents below.
- Find out how to make a PLI notification.
Membership categories and PLI cover
You must be a member of the CSP at the time of any event that subsequently gives rise to a notification or claim against you in the future. PLI cover cannot apply retrospectively. Please consider your insurance provision carefully if you are thinking of cancelling CSP membership. Run off cover is in place for former CSP members, but only for claims that arose while they were in active membership, subject to terms and conditions.
You must ensure that you are in the correct CSP membership category. Please note:
- Full practising: You must have an HCPC number to be in category B or BE. If you are in the subcategory BE you must also have parallel teaching union membership. If you are not a member of a teaching union, you must move to category B.
- Associate: This includes overseas qualified physiotherapists undergoing a ‘period of adaptation’, and UK qualified physiotherapists undergoing ‘return to practice’ who do not yet hold an HCPC number. When you have your HCPC number, you must move to a new relevant category. You must be undertaking physiotherapy activities and have your work solely delegated to you by a registered physiotherapist or other registered health professional. If you are doing non-delegated tasks or seeing patients without referral from a physiotherapist or other health professional, this work will not be covered by the scheme and you will need to find alternative insurance.
- Retired: For those who have stopped working completely. Reduced cover for strictly ‘non-practising’ activities such as speaking engagements. If you wish to offer any form of clinical knowledge, skills and/or experience, such as direct practice, lecturing or voluntary work, you must remain on the HCPC register and in the full-practising CSP membership category.
- Graduate affiliate: Student members will be moved to this category from the 1st of the month after the completion of their pre-registration programme. There is no PLI cover for this category. Once you have your HCPC number, you must move to a full-practising category if you intend to work as a physiotherapist.
- Non-practising: There is no PLI cover provided in this category as it is presumed you are not working as a physiotherapist in any capacity, and therefore do not need cover.
Key definitions
| Insurer | Professional Liability – The MPLC Ltd on behalf of certain Lloyds Underwriters. Public Liability – Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance plc |
| Limits of Indemnity | Professional Liability – £7.5 million in any one claim with an overall limit of £10 million in respect of all claims in any one period of insurance per member. Public Liability – £10 million in any one claim. £10 million in the annual aggregate for product liability claims. |
| Basis of cover | Claims made (claims must be reported during the currency of the policy). |
Retroactive Cover | Work undertaken from the date of CSP membership is included. |
| Run Off | Provided for members who leave the CSP /retire from practice provided the CSP continues to purchase a PLI scheme for members and the claim arises from work done by an individual while they were a CSP member. |
| Excess | None. Members do not have to make any contribution to the costs of a claim. |
| Beneficiaries | The CSP is the policy holder. Individual CSP members resident in the UK benefit from the scheme. |
| What's covered | Professional Liability – all work within the scope of physiotherapy practice but with exclusions including the treatment of animals and certain professional footballers, spinal injections and acupuncture when used for fertility treatment. |
Note: In the event of any dispute the full policy wording overrides any information contained in these webpages and the underwriters are the final arbiters of any decision to offer members cover under the policy based on their individual circumstances.
Key documents
- Full Policy Wording CSP PLI (medical malpractice) scheme 2023-24
This document provides the full terms and conditions of the medical malpractice and professional indemnity policy. As with all insurance policies, you should read and understand the policy and talk to the CSP brokers if you have any concerns. - CSP Public liability insurance master schedule 2023-24
This document provides details of the public liability policy specific to the CSP, as well as any exclusions and amendments to the full policy. You should read this alongside the full policy document. As with all insurance policies, you should read and understand the policy and talk to the CSP brokers if you have any concerns. - Full Policy Wording CSP Public Liability scheme 2023-24
This document provides the full terms and conditions of the public liability policy. As with all insurance policies, you should read and understand the policy and talk to the CSP brokers if you have any concerns. - The summary of members PLI insurance scheme 2023-24
This document provides the key points of the CSP scheme to help you understand what is covered under the CSP scheme - Quick PLI reference guide
This document provides a quick and easy reference to key points of the CSP’s PLI Scheme for members. - Business Insurance Guidance for Members
Further information
The CSP is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to give insurance advice. For specific insurance related enquiries, you can contact the CSP insurance brokers:
James Hallam
Saxon House
Duke Street
Chelmsford
Essex CM1 1HT
email: promedschemes@jameshallam.co.uk;