Midwives in private practice will need professional indemnity insurance from January after a federally granted exemption ends.

The waiver has been extended before as Canberra sought a solution to private insurers withdrawing cover for intrapartum care during home births.

Now, the federal government has introduced a PI product under the Midwife Professional Indemnity Scheme, to be offered through Medical Insurance Group Australia.

The scheme helps PI insurers with the cost of claims, and payments range from 80% to 100% of eligible claims.

To buy the cover, midwives in private practice must meet standards such as completion of the equivalent of 5000 hours of clinical practice in the previous six years.

Maternity Consumer Network says the new insurance regime, intended to make home births safer, could instead remove registered health practitioners from home births, force private midwifery practices across Australia to close and send free birth rates soaring.

“The government set out to insure home birth, but unless it urgently fixes the second-midwife gap, its solution will make professionally attended home birth impossible in many Australian communities,” network founder Alecia Staines said.