Claims-made coverage that can include work done before the current policy period.
Prior acts coverage is claims-made protection that preserves coverage for qualifying acts that occurred before the current policy period, subject to the policy’s timing wording.
The term matters because businesses often change insurers or renew programs without realizing that older work may remain protected only if prior acts are preserved.
In Canadian claims-made insurance, prior acts coverage is usually discussed together with the retroactive date. If prior acts are preserved, earlier work may still fall within the policy’s timing structure. If they are restricted, restarted, or lost, a major gap can open.
The term is especially important when a business changes insurers, replaces one professional-liability program with another, or allows a policy to lapse and later restarts coverage. A claims-made policy does not simply look at when the claim arrives. It also looks backward to determine whether the earlier act is inside the permitted timing structure.
That is why prior acts coverage is closely tied to claims-made coverage and to any extended reporting period. Prior acts preserves backward reach for earlier work. Extended reporting period preserves extra time to report qualifying claims after the policy ends. They are related timing tools, but they solve different problems.
A consulting firm changes insurers at renewal. The new policy is claims-made. If the new arrangement preserves prior acts, a later claim tied to work done before the switch may still be considered. If the prior acts position is reset too narrowly, the business may discover that older work is no longer protected under the new timing structure.
Prior acts coverage is not the same as unlimited protection for every past event. The preserved reach still depends on the actual wording, the retroactive-date structure, and any exclusions.
It is also wrong to assume that renewing or moving the policy automatically preserves prior acts on identical terms. That continuity has to be checked rather than assumed.
The exact scope depends on the policy form, retroactive-date treatment, renewal history, and any gap or change in carrier. Timing continuity in claims-made coverage should always be verified carefully.