Does the registration standard itself require me to buy run-off cover?

The standards described here are framed around cover being in force while a practitioner is actively practising. Whether run-off cover is needed after that, and for how long, is a separate judgement informed by the nature of the past work — worth discussing with whoever arranges the cover before deregistering or closing the business.

If I retire, does my old policy automatically keep responding to claims about my past work?

Not automatically. An ordinary policy generally stops responding once it lapses or is not renewed, which is exactly the gap run-off cover is bought to close — it does not appear on its own.

Does this apply to trade licences that carry no insurance condition at all?

The run-off question is specific to claims-made cover and to registrations where a continuing duty exists. Most trade licences carry no such condition, so there is no registration-driven run-off question — though a business itself may still choose to consider it for its own claims-made covers, such as professional indemnity, independently of the licence.

Run-off and retroactive cover for registered professions

In short

Professional indemnity and comparable covers respond to when a claim is made, not to when the work was done — so finished work can still need a policy standing behind it.
For a registered profession, that mechanism does not stop when registration ends. A complaint about work done while registered can still arrive after deregistration.
Run-off cover exists precisely for that gap, and it is a deliberate purchase, not something that continues automatically once a practitioner stops practising.

Most trade licences do not raise a run-off question at all, because most carry no insurance condition to begin with — when the licence lapses or is not renewed, there is no continuing insurance duty attached to it that needs to be wound down.

Registered professions are different, because the underlying cover is claims-made rather than tied to the licence period, and because the registration standard treats "in force" as an ongoing state rather than a one-off check. Stopping work does not stop the possibility of a claim about work already done.

The mechanism that makes this necessary

Professional indemnity and comparable covers generally respond to claims first made during the policy period, regardless of when the underlying work happened. A complaint about work done years earlier can be made against a policy in force today; work done yesterday is not covered by a policy that already ended.

That structure means the moment registration or practice stops is not the moment the exposure stops. A patient, a client or a former colleague can still raise a complaint about work completed while the practitioner was registered, well after the registration itself has ended.

How this mechanism plays out for an ordinary lapse or switch

Why registered professions feel this more than most trades

A registered health practitioner’s duty is to have appropriate arrangements in force while practising — once practice genuinely stops, the standard no longer requires new cover to be maintained going forward, but it says nothing about the claims that can still arrive about the years already worked.

Property agents carry a similar shape of exposure: a transaction handled years earlier can still generate a complaint long after the agent has left the industry or the licence has lapsed, because the loss a client suffered was caused by conduct in the past, not by anything happening now.

What run-off cover actually does

Run-off cover is a policy bought specifically to keep a claims-made arrangement in force after regular practice has stopped, so that a claim arriving after retirement, deregistration or business closure still has a policy to be notified against. It is a deliberate, separate purchase, not a default extension that continues automatically once ordinary cover ends.

How long to hold it is a genuine judgement call that depends on the nature of the past work and the periods within which a complaint could realistically still be raised about it — which makes it a conversation with whoever arranges the cover and, where relevant, the National Board or licensing body, rather than a fixed rule that applies the same way to everyone.

Questions

Does the registration standard itself require me to buy run-off cover?: The standards described here are framed around cover being in force while a practitioner is actively practising. Whether run-off cover is needed after that, and for how long, is a separate judgement informed by the nature of the past work — worth discussing with whoever arranges the cover before deregistering or closing the business.
If I retire, does my old policy automatically keep responding to claims about my past work?: Not automatically. An ordinary policy generally stops responding once it lapses or is not renewed, which is exactly the gap run-off cover is bought to close — it does not appear on its own.
Does this apply to trade licences that carry no insurance condition at all?: The run-off question is specific to claims-made cover and to registrations where a continuing duty exists. Most trade licences carry no such condition, so there is no registration-driven run-off question — though a business itself may still choose to consider it for its own claims-made covers, such as professional indemnity, independently of the licence.

Sources

Ahpra — professional indemnity insurance arrangements — Publisher of the fact sheet stating a registered health practitioner must not practise unless appropriate professional indemnity insurance arrangements are in force, and that a lapse must be notified to the National Board.
NSW Government — professional indemnity insurance information sheet (property agents) — Confirms that under section 22 of the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002 it is a condition of every licence that the holder be insured under a policy of professional indemnity insurance.