As the owner of a video, multimedia production company I increasingly feel the need for professional indemnity insurance both for myself and my sub contractors who are in the same situation... namely we don't have a tertiary qualification because we have been in the business since the days before tertiary became God!

We have experience and skills but that's not enough when it comes to the insurance companies. They then require us to fill in reams of paperwork about past projects... and the outcomes... especially letters from past clients. This of course raises a red flag for clients that we don't need.

I have recently been made aware of a sort of labour hire company 'freelance' (Contractor (http://www.freelance-global.com/au/contractor)) that offers this but for a very substantial fee taken from the 'employee/sub contractor' and from the 'employer/prime contractor' us.

Can anyone out there shed any light on other options or any blinding flash of the obvious for us poor uneducated people.

I think you might benefit hugely from doing the Tertiary Course, even part time. Having experience would put you on top of the class and you'd be able to actually use what you pick up practically straight away.

Tertiary qualification at the end solves your insurance dilemma + knowledge acquired improves what you already do.

Hi Neil,

you will find that most institutions offer what is called an RPL - Recognition for Prior Learning. You can easily excel and gain credits for many portions of a course - you would have to speak to the school off course, but it would be worthy of an enquiry.