Holding an ACCA members’ Professional Indemnity Insurance policy with Lockton gives you access to expert, wraparound support thanks to several helplines. These helplines can be used for a range of issues relating to professional negligence, legal and regulatory advice or other business matters.

Below, we summarise the tools available, and how they can help you and your business.

Legal helpline

ACCA members can receive up to 60 minutes of free legal advice from leading professional negligence specialist law firm Clyde & Co, on any issue relating to a potential professional negligence matter.

Calling the helpline may help you to prevent a claim developing or avoid a problem with a client. If you are worried about an issue, you can take advantage of this benefit for free. You can then instruct other solicitors at your own expense if you still have concerns.

Please note that the helpline is not for the notification of claims, which should be made in accordance with your policy documentation.

The helpline is intended to cover issues you may face which may relate to a professional negligence claim. It is not intended to cover personal legal issues, employment issues, landlord and tenant issues, or disputes with business suppliers.

Typical enquiries which the legal helpline covers include:

• I have had a letter from a client, who refuses to pay my bill. How do I deal with him? He has not said that there is a professional negligence claim, but I am concerned at what may lie behind his refusal to pay.
• I have discovered a problem on a file. I am not sure that it is negligence, can I talk it through with you?
• I have had a request from a former client for my file of papers. What should I send them?
• I have had an employee leave, and am concerned that there may be some issues in the files he worked on. What should I do?
• I’ve missed a filing date. Can I pay the late penalty for my client without telling my client/insurers, as it will fall within my excess in any event?

Allianz Legal Online

Your Commercial Legal Expenses cover includes access to extensive online legal support via Allianz Legal Online. This service provides tools and services to help you prepare a range of legal documents in connection with your business, such as employment contracts, HR policies, privacy policies and chasing debtors. In addition, you’ll receive access to up-to-date online guidance on many legal issues, including business start-up, health and safety, intellectual property and debt recovery.

Documents created using Allianz Legal Online can be sent via the system to a specialist legal team for review. A member of the team will respond via email or phone within three working days, answering any questions and providing amendments necessary to ensure the document meets your requirements (subject to a maximum of one hour’s work per document). The legal documents and guidance provided are always in accordance with the laws of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

You can access Allianz Legal Online at: allianzlegal.secureclient.co.uk. Please refer to your policy schedule for the registration code.

Lawphone Legal Helpline

The Lawphone Legal Helpline provides members with unlimited 24/7, 365-day-a-year access to legal advice, or advice on any other business matter. The advice you receive from the legal helpline will always be according to the laws of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

You will be asked to provide a brief summary of the problem. These details will be passed on to an adviser once your policy details have been confirmed.

Tax advice helpline

This helpline provides advice on any business tax matter. There is no additional charge for using this helpline. Advice provided by the helpline will be in accordance with the taxation laws of Great Britain and Northern Ireland only.

The telephone service is for general enquiries, and not for tax planning or documentation review.

You can contact the helpline as often as required during the term of your policy. This helpline is provided by Markel.

Clyde & Co in focus: accountants’ litigation and regulatory hub

Clyde & Co provide members of Lockton’s ACCA Members insurance scheme with complimentary access to In Focus: Accountants’ Litigation and Regulatory Hub – a specialist knowledge resource portal for accountants. The resources include our Risk Management Guidance Notes, providing practical support for in-house legal and engagement teams for smaller and medium-sized accountancy firms. These can help you to navigate through the legal challenges you may face:

• Guides and checklists will help you when responding to regulatory requests for information, including requests for evidence under the Insolvency Act 1986, data subject access requests, or HMRC requests for evidence.
• Evidence gathering in an investigation or a liability claim can be tricky. The practical guidance highlights the steps to take to ensure that you are in the best position when faced with regulatory or liability proceedings.
• Professional risk management is essential to minimising the risk of regulatory investigation and civil proceedings. The guides will assist your firm in maintaining best practice risk management processes across a range of topics, including the use of electronic signatures, liability caps, non-disclosure agreements, and ‘hold harmless’ letters.

You can also access other legal knowledge resources which may be relevant to accountants, including regular news, insights and podcasts on professional liability legal developments, litigation and legislation updates, employment law resources and other Clyde & Co knowledge products, including the Embracing AI podcast series and Cyber Source, a cyber and data breach resource.

To register for your complimentary In Focus account, simply email infocus@clydeco.com, providing your name and email address (a business email address is required), company name, and the reference Lockton 2024/5. We will send you a link to complete the registration process.

For more resources, visit Lockton’s ACCA accountants page. 

Lockton is ACCA’s recommended broker for professional indemnity insurance: find out more.