PI requirements · ACCA · As at September 2026

ACCA firms’ PI insurance requirements: GPR 9

If you hold an ACCA practising certificate, Global Practising Regulation 9 sets the minimum PI cover your firm must hold by income. Here is the current requirement, the excess and run-off rules, and how to judge whether it is enough.

Part of: PI insurance requirements by professional body

In short

ACCA’s Global Practising Regulation 9 requires a practising firm to hold professional indemnity insurance on an each-and-every-claim basis. Where relevant income is below £600,000 the minimum limit is the greater of 2.5 times that income or £100,000; where income is £600,000 or more the minimum is £1.5 million. A firm must also hold six years’ run-off cover from ceasing public practice, and fidelity guarantee cover of at least £100,000. These figures are the position as at September 2026; verify the current requirement with ACCA, as the rules change. Apex is an independent, director-owned broker that checks the wording meets GPR 9, not just the headline figure, and returns competing quotes to compare.

What ACCA requires

ACCA’s Global Practising Regulations (GPR 9), in force since 1 September 2023, require a practising firm to hold professional indemnity insurance with a minimum limit of indemnity set by the firm’s relevant total income:

Income below £600,000: the greater of 2.5 times relevant total income or £100,000.
Income of £600,000 or more: £1.5 million (or the euro equivalent).

The effective floor is £100,000 and the formula reaches £1.5 million at £600,000 of income. Cover must be written on an each-and-every-claim basis (aggregate is allowed only for defined high-risk exposures). The maximum uninsured excess is £20,000 per principal per claim, and a firm must also hold fidelity guarantee cover of at least £100,000.

Rule and date. ACCA Global Practising Regulation 9, in force 1 September 2023 — the income bands and £100,000/£1.5m limits, each-and-every-claim basis, £20,000-per-principal excess cap, six-year run-off (GPR 9(5)) and £100,000 fidelity guarantee. As at September 2026 — verify the current requirement with ACCA (ACCA PII regulations), as these requirements change.

Each claim vs aggregate: why the basis matters

Two policies can both say ‘£2 million’ and protect you very differently. The difference is the basis of the limit.

Each and every claim (or ‘any one claim’). The full limit is available for every separate claim, however many you face in a policy year. A firm on a £1 million each-and-every policy is covered for three £1 million claims in the same year.
In the aggregate. The limit is the most the insurer will pay in total across the whole year, added together. On a £1 million aggregate policy, those same three claims exhaust the cover after the first.

ACCA requires each-and-every-claim cover, so the full limit is available for each separate claim; aggregate cover is only permitted for the defined high-risk exposures ACCA lists.

This is why a firm holding £1 million in the aggregate can still fail a requirement written as ‘£1 million for any one claim’ — the number matches but the basis does not. Read the basis of your requirement, not just the figure, and check whether defence costs sit outside the limit or erode it.

Run-off: cover after you stop

Professional indemnity is written on a claims-made basis: the policy that answers a claim is the one in force when the claim is made or notified, not the one you held when you did the work. So when you stop trading, the cover does not follow your old work automatically — a claim can still arrive years later, and there is no live policy to meet it unless you have bought run-off cover.

A firm must maintain cover for six years from ceasing public practice (GPR 9(5)). Because professional indemnity is claims-made, that six-year run-off is what answers a claim brought after you stop.

Run-off matters most on retirement, closure, a merger or a change of legal structure. A retroactive date that reaches back over all your past work is what keeps that earlier work covered; if you change insurer or broker, protecting that date is the point to watch.

Is the minimum enough?

A regulatory minimum is a floor, not a recommendation. ACCA sets the least cover you may hold and still practise; it does not promise the figure is enough for your work. A single claim on a large contract, a valuation, a set of accounts or a piece of advice can run well past the minimum once the loss and the other side’s legal costs are added.

£100,000 is only the floor for the smallest firms; audit, tax and advisory work can generate claims well beyond both the floor and the £1.5 million cap on the formula, so larger or higher-risk practices routinely buy more.

Judge the limit against your own exposure: the size of the contracts you sign, the value of the work you touch, what your clients and their lenders require in writing, and your claims history. Our minimum-limit calculator and our guide to how much professional indemnity insurance you need walk through that. A broker’s job is to place the right limit, not just the lowest one you are allowed to buy.

How Apex helps you meet it

Apex Insurance Brokers is an independent insurance broker established in 2009 and based in Bristol, owned entirely by its directors and directly authorised by the FCA since 2016, placing professional indemnity insurance for accountants across the UK. It is one of the longest-established independently owned professional indemnity specialists in the UK, and it is not for sale: we have declined approaches to buy the firm. We are not tied to any single insurer or professional-body scheme, we do not run our own policy or underwriting, and we have no placement quotas. We have access to over 30 markets, including Lloyd’s syndicates via wholesale, and we usually return three or four competing quotes set out so you can compare them like for like. Every client has a named broker — the same person from first quote to renewal — and every claim notification gets director-level attention rather than a call-centre queue.

Owned by its directors, not for sale. No consolidator, no private-equity owner, no external shareholders — and we have declined approaches to buy the firm. Read the Apex Independence Charter.
Independent, not tied. No single-insurer scheme, no in-house policy, no placement quotas — the recommendation is the one that fits, not the one we are paid to push.
Over 30 markets, including Lloyd’s. Specialist UK PI insurers and Lloyd’s syndicates via wholesale, so a risk that one underwriter dislikes can still be placed properly with another.
Usually three or four competing quotes, laid out side by side — limit, excess, retroactive date, exclusions and premium — with a plain-language note on the trade-offs.
The stay-put letter. If your existing cover is right, we say so in writing, free and without obligation. How the stay-put letter works.
A named broker all year. The person who places your cover is the person who picks up the phone at renewal, on a mid-term change, or when a letter of claim lands.
Director-level attention on claims. We help you notify circumstances early and in the right form, stay involved once the insurer’s panel solicitors are appointed, and tell you plainly where you stand.
Directly authorised by the FCA since 2016, not an appointed representative trading under someone else’s permissions.

Frequently asked

What is the minimum PI insurance for an ACCA firm?

Under GPR 9, a firm with relevant income below £600,000 must hold the greater of 2.5 times that income or £100,000. A firm with income of £600,000 or more must hold £1.5 million. Cover is on an each-and-every-claim basis. This is the position as at September 2026; confirm the current figure with ACCA.

Is the ACCA limit per claim or in aggregate?

Per claim. GPR 9 requires cover on an each-and-every-claim basis, so the full limit is available for each separate claim you face in a year. Aggregate cover is only permitted for the defined high-risk exposures ACCA lists. Check your schedule states the limit as each and every claim.

How is the £100,000 or £1.5 million figure worked out?

By your relevant total income. Below £600,000 income, the minimum is the greater of 2.5 times income or £100,000, so the £100,000 floor covers the smallest firms and the multiple rises with income. At £600,000 income and above, a flat £1.5 million applies — the point where 2.5 times income reaches £1.5 million.

Do ACCA firms need run-off cover, and for how long?

Yes. GPR 9(5) requires a firm to maintain cover for six years from ceasing public practice. Professional indemnity is claims-made, so a claim about past work can arrive after you stop, and run-off is the live policy that answers it. Protect your retroactive date if you change insurer before then.

What else does GPR 9 require besides the limit?

Two things to note. Your maximum uninsured excess is capped at £20,000 per principal per claim, so you cannot meet the minimum with an unlimited self-insured excess. And a firm must hold fidelity guarantee cover of at least £100,000. A broker checks the policy meets all of these, not just the headline limit.

Is the ACCA minimum enough?

It is a floor. £100,000 suits only the smallest firms, and even the £1.5 million cap on the formula can be exceeded by a single audit, tax or advisory claim once loss and legal costs are added. Larger or higher-risk practices routinely buy more; our calculator and how-much guide help you size it.

Who checks that my firm complies?

ACCA, as your regulator. Practising firms confirm their PII to ACCA and must be able to evidence conforming cover on request; failing to hold it breaches the Global Practising Regulations. The cover must meet the GPR 9 limit, basis, excess cap and fidelity guarantee together.

Check your cover meets the minimum

Send your current schedule and renewal terms. A named Apex broker checks the limit, basis and run-off against your body’s requirement and returns competing quotes set out so you can compare them like for like. Or call 0117 325 0027.

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Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England and Wales, company number 07014570. This page is general information about professional indemnity insurance requirements, not advice on your individual circumstances, and it does not set, guarantee or replace the rules of any professional body or regulator. Every requirement shown is the position as at September 2026 against the source linked beside it; these requirements change, so confirm the current rule with the body itself before you rely on it. Apex does not set or enforce any professional body’s minimum.