Self employed professional indemnity insurance is the same product a large practice buys, sized down and with one complication a practice does not have: the insured is a person rather than an organisation, and the work is spread across clients who may each be asking for different things.
Who the insured is
A sole trader is insured in their own name, trading as whatever the business is called. Someone working through a limited company should insure the company, because that is what contracts. Getting this wrong is one of the few errors that can leave an otherwise valid claim unpaid, and it is easily fixed at inception.
Cover across several clients
One annual policy covers all your professional work within the activities declared, rather than one policy per client. The important part is declaring the activities accurately: a copywriter who also does search consultancy, or a bookkeeper who also gives tax advice, has two activities and a policy written for one of them may not answer for the other.
Clients asking for different limits
The policy limit has to satisfy the most demanding client you have, since it applies to all of them. Where one client asks for a figure far above the rest, it is usually cheaper to raise the whole policy than to arrange something separate, and the difference in premium between limits is smaller than most people expect.
Keeping it continuous
Cover is claims made, so a self employed person who stops for a year and cancels leaves all previous work uninsured. Where work genuinely stops, run off cover is the answer rather than cancellation, and it is much cheaper than the active policy.
Questions people ask about self employed professional indemnity insurance
Do I insure myself or my company?
Whichever entity contracts with clients. A sole trader insures themselves; somebody working through a limited company insures the company.
Does one policy cover all my clients?
Yes, within the activities you declared. Declaring the activities accurately is what makes that work.
What if one client wants a much higher limit?
Raise the whole policy. It applies across all clients and the premium difference between limits is usually modest.
What if I stop working for a while?
Buy run off cover rather than cancelling, because claims about past work can arrive after you stop and the policy must be live to answer.