NMC Code Section 12: Have Indemnity Arrangements

Section 12 of the Code is the shortest substantive section.

“Have in place an indemnity arrangement which provides appropriate cover for any practice you take on as a nurse, midwife or nursing associate in the United Kingdom.”

There are no sub-clauses. The obligation is binary: you have appropriate cover or you don’t.

Section 12 is the Code’s mirror of the revalidation indemnity requirement (covered in Chapter 23). The Code section is the ongoing professional obligation; the revalidation declaration is the three-yearly confirmation of compliance.

What it means in practice

Three things have to be true continuously:

• You have indemnity cover in place.
• The cover is appropriate to your nursing activity.
• The cover is current: not lapsed, not expired, not pending renewal.

Gaps are the most common issue. A nurse who moves jobs and assumes cover transferred. A nurse whose RCN membership lapsed when they changed bank account. A self-employed nurse whose private policy expired. Any of these creates a Section 12 breach, even if no patient is harmed in the gap period.

Common breaches

The breach pattern for Section 12 is usually administrative rather than malicious:

• Lapsed union membership at a moment when union cover was the primary arrangement.
• Practising overseas without cover that extends to the country.
• Independent practice without cover the standard arrangement doesn’t include.
• Continued practice after employment ends: the few days between jobs.

The NMC’s fitness-to-practise cases involving Section 12 typically involve a registrant practising knowingly without cover, especially in private practice contexts.

CPD that maps to Section 12

Section 12 is procedural. CPD doesn’t really apply in the way it does for clinical sections. What helps is:

• Awareness of indemnity types and scope (covered in Chapter 24).
• Annual review of your cover arrangements.
• Updates on changes to indemnity rules (NHS Resolution publishes annual scope updates).

For revalidation purposes, Section 12 reflections are rare; most reflective accounts pick clinical sections. But if you’ve had a near-miss around indemnity (discovered a gap, adjusted cover for new activity), a reflective account on Section 12 is valid.

Common breaches

Beyond the administrative gaps mentioned above:

• Practising in private capacity under employer indemnity, when the cover doesn’t extend.
• Aesthetic or cosmetic activity under generic cover that excluded it.
• Expert witness work without specific medico-legal cover.

The shared pattern: assumption that cover extends further than it does.

Where Section 12 connects to other sections

• Section 22 (fulfil registration requirements): Section 12 is one of the registration-level obligations.
• The revalidation indemnity requirement (Chapter 23 of this guide).

This is the end of Pillar 2 of the Code (Sections 6-12). The next chapter starts Pillar 3, Preserve Safety, with Section 13 on recognising the limits of your competence.