Public Relations and Communications Agency Insurance

Before anything else about a PR agency's policy, establish what it says about libel, because this is the exposure the business actually carries.

An agency's output is published, and publication is how defamation happens. The realistic scenarios are mundane rather than reckless: a release that overstates a competitor's failings, a line in a statement implying a former employee behaved improperly, a comparison claim that cannot be substantiated, a social post that goes further than the approved copy, a briefing note repeated by a journalist, and a quote attributed to somebody who did not say it. Each can produce a claim from a party with no relationship to the agency.

Some professional indemnity wordings exclude libel and slander outright, and an agency holding one of those is uninsured for its principal third party exposure while the policy looks entirely adequate on limits. So ask to see the clause, establish whether it covers material you wrote as well as material you advised on, and check whether it extends to social and digital output rather than only traditional media. Then make sure the limit reflects the fact that defence costs in a defamation matter are substantial regardless of outcome.

There is a comfortable assumption in agency work that approved copy transfers the risk, and against a third party it largely does not.

A client approving a statement means the client authorised publication. It does not mean a competitor who was defamed by it has to pursue the client rather than the agency: the claimant chooses, and will frequently pursue both, or whoever looks most clearly responsible for the words. Agencies also approve their own additions, and the gap between approved copy and what finally went out on a social channel at seven in the evening is where a surprising number of these problems live.

So the protections are substantiation and version control. Claims about competitors, performance, firsts and comparisons substantiated before they go out rather than after a complaint, a record of what was approved and by whom, publication only of the approved version with any change re-approved, and a rule that nothing contentious goes out without a second pair of eyes. Where a client insists on a line you have advised against, record the advice and their instruction, because that is the one document that moves the exposure.

Crisis and reputation work is the most valuable thing a PR agency sells and the most exposed thing it does.

An organisation in a crisis is deciding whether to comment, what to admit, how much to say and when, with regulators, lawyers, insurers, employees and media all involved at once. An agency's advice shapes that, and the claims are about the shape rather than the wording: advice to issue a statement that prejudiced a legal position or an insurance claim, advice to stay silent while a story ran unanswered, an apology that amounted to an admission, or a timeline given to media that turned out to be wrong. The loss is reputational and commercial and it can be very large.

Which makes the boundaries worth stating. Be explicit in writing that communications advice is not legal advice and that the client should take legal and insurance advice on admissions and liability, coordinate rather than override those advisers, record the basis of information you were given and by whom, and avoid stating facts you have not verified yourself. A crisis file that shows what the agency was told, what it recommended and what the client decided is the only defensible record of a week nobody remembers clearly.

An agency's confidentiality exposure is sharper than most, because of what it holds and when.

A PR firm routinely knows about results before they are announced, a deal before it completes, a restructure before staff are told, a product before launch, and bad news before it breaks. That information is market sensitive, commercially valuable and in some cases regulated. An early disclosure, whether through a compromised mailbox, a misdirected email, a careless conversation or a release sent before its embargo, can move a share price, breach a client's own disclosure obligations, and end the relationship immediately.

So treat the embargo calendar and the client folder as the sensitive assets they are. Multi factor authentication without exception, care with distribution lists because a misdirected release is the classic failure, embargo discipline with a check before scheduled sends, and a rule about what is discussed outside the office. Also check whether breach of confidence is covered rather than only negligence, and whether your cyber policy contemplates a client's loss from an early disclosure rather than only your own data recovery costs.

One clause decides whether the policy insures this business. We are an FCA regulated broker and will not tell you we are the best choice. These are the questions that decide it.