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 'Chartered' 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.
- If you are a support worker undertaking delegated activity.
- If you are an associate-student combing work and study.
- 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 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 some activities beyond the scope of physiotherapy practice and these will not covered by the CSP PLI scheme. Many AP activities are within the scope of the profession. 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. If your membership lapses you cannot backdate your PLI benefits should you rejoin the CSP. 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 see all our membership categories for full details. PLI is provided subject to the T&Cs of the policy for the following membership categories only. Please note:
- Chartered Members: You must have an HCPC number and/or have parallel teaching union membership to benefit from PLI cover. There is no PLI cover if you are permanently resident overseas.
- Associate: PLI is provided for all 'working' associate categories. There is no PLI if you are in a 'non-working' category.
- Associate- Student: PLI is provided for your support worker work and your supervised work as a student.
- Students: You must be supervised for all work you undertake. You must be clear of the supervision requirements needed when working overseas. See our Practice Placement pages. There is no PLI for unsupervised work.
- 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 Chartered membership if you intend to work as a physiotherapist.
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 PLI documents
- Full Policy Wording CSP PLI (medical malpractice) scheme 2024-5
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 2024-5
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 2024-25
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 2024-25
This document provides the key points of the CSP scheme to help you understand what is covered under the CSP scheme. This document will be available soon. - Quick PLI reference guide
This document provides a quick and easy reference to key points of the CSP’s PLI Scheme for members. This document will be available soon. - 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
Website: www.jameshallam.co.uk