Data report · Published 6 September 2026

The Apex PI Premium Index 2026: what UK professionals actually pay for professional indemnity insurance

The Apex PI Premium Index is a data report from Apex Insurance Brokers’ own professional indemnity placements — 943 policies across 13 professions after outlier trimming, data extracted 6 September 2026 — giving the middle-half premium, as a percentage of fees and in pounds at a £1m limit, for the five professions where the sample is large enough to publish.

Part of: What professional indemnity insurance costs

In short

The Apex PI Premium Index 2026 reports what UK professional firms actually paid for professional indemnity insurance, from 943 Apex placements (data extracted 6 September 2026). Across all sizes the middle half of accountants paid 0.34%–0.56% of annual fees (n=132), architects 0.82%–2.33% (n=526), chartered surveyors 0.92%–2.42% (n=71), solicitors 1.21%–2.80% on a £1m-equivalent basis (n=45) and civil and structural engineers 1.68%–3.99% (n=29, indicative). An architect billing about £150,000 typically paid £1,130–£2,070 a year for £1m of cover (n=128); an accountancy practice billing £500,000 paid £1,520–£2,200 (n=49), roughly half what an architecture practice of the same size paid. Figures are interquartile ranges from an independent broker’s placements across more than 30 insurer markets, not one insurer’s rate card, and the Index is free to cite with attribution.

The ten headline findings

Each statement below is a middle-half (interquartile) range from Apex placements, converted to a £1m limit, with the number of placements behind it. Ratios are ratios of the rounded figures. Items 9 and 10 carry the caveats stated with them.

In Apex’s recent placements, an architect billing around £150,000 a year typically paid between £1,130 and £2,070 a year for £1m of professional indemnity cover. (n=128)
An architect with around £50,000 of annual fees typically paid £720 to £1,260 a year for £1m of PI cover in Apex’s recent placements. (n=171)
Across 526 architect placements, professional indemnity premiums typically ran between 0.82% and 2.33% of annual fees. (n=526)
The smallest architecture practices pay proportionally the most: firms billing under £25,000 typically paid 3.38% to 6.23% of fees for PI, five to six times the 0.56% to 1.16% paid by practices billing £250,000 to £1m. (n=80 and n=139)
An accountancy practice with £500,000 of fees typically paid £1,520 to £2,200 a year for £1m of PI cover — an architecture practice of the same size paid roughly twice as much (1.85 to 2.63 times), at £2,810 to £5,780. (n=49 and n=139)
Across 132 accountant placements, PI premiums typically cost between 0.34% and 0.56% of annual fees — the lowest rate of any profession in Apex’s data. (n=132)
A chartered surveyor with around £50,000 of fees typically paid £650 to £1,430 a year for £1m of PI cover; at £150,000 of fees the typical range was £1,170 to £2,670. (n=32 and n=20)
An accountancy practice billing £1m typically paid £3,170 to £5,400 a year for £1m of PI cover. (n=20)
Civil and structural engineers pay some of the highest PI rates of any profession: a firm with £50,000 of fees typically paid £1,760 to £3,270 for £1m of cover, about two and a half times the equivalent architect figure. (n=9 — indicative only)
A law firm billing around £150,000 typically paid the equivalent of £2,010 to £3,170 a year for £1m of PI cover, which scales to roughly £2,420 to £3,800 at the £2m limit solicitors are required to carry. (n=16 — solicitors cannot buy £1m; the £1m figure is a normalisation of £2m and £3m policies, and the sample is small)

PI premium as a percentage of fees, by profession

Profession	Premium as % of annual fees middle half, all firm sizes, £1m-equivalent	Placements (n)	Note
Architect	0.82%–2.33%	526
Accountant	0.34%–0.56%	132
Chartered surveyor	0.92%–2.42%	71
Solicitor	1.21%–2.80%	45	£1m-equivalent; firms buy £2m or £3m, multiply by 1.2 for £2m
Civil or structural engineer	1.68%–3.99%	29	indicative: every band n=8–9

The small-firm penalty

Rate-on-fees falls steeply with size in every profession. The £300 minimum premium is a large part of the reason, and insurers also give larger firms economies of scale in rating. A £5,000-fee firm paying £300 shows a 6% rate; a £20,000-fee firm paying the same £300 shows 1.5%. Architects, the largest sample, show it most clearly: practices billing under £25,000 paid 3.38%–6.23% of fees (n=80), those billing £25,000–£100,000 paid 1.45%–2.53% (n=171), £100,000–£250,000 0.76%–1.38% (n=128), £250,000–£1m 0.56%–1.16% (n=139) and £1m–£3m 0.51%–0.79% (n=11).

Premium as a percentage of fees, middle half, by fee band and profession (£1m-equivalent basis; solicitors multiply by 1.2 for £2m):

Profession	Under £25k	£25k–£100k	£100k–£250k	£250k–£1m	£1m–£3m
Architect	3.38%–6.23% n=80	1.45%–2.53% n=171	0.76%–1.38% n=128	0.56%–1.16% n=139	0.51%–0.79% n=11
Accountant	3.24%–4.53% n=6 · indicative	0.50%–0.81% n=36	0.37%–0.54% n=26	0.30%–0.44% n=49	0.32%–0.54% n=20
Chartered surveyor	3.81%–11.91% n=9 · indicative	1.30%–2.87% n=32	0.78%–1.78% n=20	0.44%–0.65% n=9 · indicative	—
Solicitor	—	4.21%–7.10% n=6 · indicative	1.34%–2.11% n=16	1.93%–4.98% n=12	—
Civil or structural engineer	—	3.53%–6.55% n=9 · indicative	1.59%–2.70% n=8 · indicative	1.47%–2.28% n=8 · indicative	—

The under-£25,000 cells for accountants and surveyors are indicative (six and nine placements) and the surveyor cell is very widely spread; the architect cell (80 placements) is the one we would quote. For the smallest firms the rate-times-fees presentation breaks down and the honest figure is “from £300”.

Accountants versus architects at the same size

At the same fee income, advice is priced very differently from design. An accountancy practice with £500,000 of fees typically paid £1,520–£2,200 a year for £1m of cover (n=49); an architecture practice of the same size paid £2,810–£5,780 (n=139), 1.85 to 2.63 times as much. Across all sizes the gap is similar: 0.34%–0.56% of fees for accountants against 0.82%–2.33% for architects. Chartered surveyors (0.92%–2.42%) sit with architects, solicitors (1.21%–2.80%, £1m-equivalent) above them, and civil and structural engineers (1.68%–3.99%, indicative) highest of all.

Method in full

How we compiled these figures

The ranges on this page come from Apex Insurance Brokers’ own recent professional indemnity placements — around 940 policies after outlier removal (data extracted 6 September 2026). For each profession and fee band we took the premium each client paid as a percentage of their annual fees, removed unusually high outliers, and show the middle half of what remained: a quarter of clients paid less than the bottom of the range and a quarter paid more than the top.

Every policy has been converted to the equivalent cost of a £1 million limit of indemnity so that different limits can be compared like for like; figures for other limits are scaled from the £1m figure. Premium ranges are the rate range multiplied by a representative fee figure, subject to a minimum premium of £300, and rounded to the nearest £10.

We only show a range where we have at least five placements in that cell; where we have fewer, the cell is left blank. Small cells (nine placements or fewer) are marked as indicative.

The extract does not record the look-back period of the placements, so we describe them as recent and will state the period at the next refresh. Insurance Premium Tax is charged at 12% on UK general insurance premiums. Our extract does not record whether each premium was captured before or after IPT, so the figures may be quoted before or after IPT — treat them as indicative to within that margin.

These figures are not a quote. Your premium depends on your activities, claims history, limit, excess, and the insurer’s view of your business. Get a quote for a figure specific to you.

In more detail:

Source. Apex Insurance Brokers’ placement records: 943 policies across 13 professions and 34 profession-by-fee-band cells after trimming, extracted 6 September 2026.
Statistic. For each cell, the first and third quartiles (Q1 and Q3) of premium divided by annual fee income, after removing unusually high outliers. The published range is Q1 to Q3: the middle half.
Fee bands. Under £25,000; £25,000–£100,000; £100,000–£250,000; £250,000–£1m; £1m–£3m; £3m–£10m (lower bound inclusive, upper exclusive).
Limit normalisation. Every premium is converted to a £1m-limit equivalent using factors of 0.75 for £250,000, 0.85 for £500,000, 1.00 for £1m, 1.20 for £2m and 1.45 for £5m; other limits map to the nearest factor, so £3m solicitor policies are treated as £2m.
Premium figures. Fee point multiplied by the Q1 and Q3 rates, then the limit factor, then a £300 minimum premium, then rounding to the nearest £10. Fee points are the geometric midpoint of the band and round figures inside it; under-£25,000 bands are published as a rate only, as “from £300”, because the £300 minimum premium dominates them.
Publication gates. A cell is shown only with five or more placements after trimming; cells of nine or fewer are marked indicative. A profession is published only with twenty or more placements overall and at least two bands of eight or more: architects, accountants, chartered surveyors, solicitors and civil and structural engineers meet the test. Management consultants meet the count test but are held pending a check of one cell; insurance brokers, quantity surveyors, financial advisers, mortgage brokers, project managers and an unspecified engineer category are thin and not published.
Claims uplift. A per-profession multiplier computed by the rate guide where the placements support it (1.10 architects, accountants and surveyors; 1.19 solicitors); otherwise the guide’s default of 1.30, which applies to civil and structural engineers.

Limitations

Sample sizes. Architects (526) dominate; solicitors (45) and engineers (29) are small, and several cells sit at eight or nine placements. n is printed with every figure for that reason.
Middle half, not full range. A quarter of firms in each cell paid less than the bottom of the range and a quarter more than the top. Firms with claims, unusual activities or high limits sit outside it.
£1m normalisation. The scaling factors are the ones used in our rate guide, not a market-wide law. For solicitors and FCA-regulated advisers, who cannot buy £1m, the £1m figure is an artefact of the method and is presented at the limit they buy.
Trimmed outliers. Unusually high premiums were removed before the quartiles were taken, so heavily loaded risks are under-represented.
Apex placements only. These are the firms that came to an independent broker and were placed; they are not a census of the UK market, and a firm that stayed with a direct insurer or a scheme is not in the data.
Period. The extract does not record the look-back window; the placements are recent and the period will be stated when the data is refreshed.
Insurance Premium Tax. As the method box says, the extract does not record whether premiums were captured before or after IPT at 12%.
Activity mix. Fee bands do not separate activities within a profession. A conveyancing-heavy law firm or a valuation-heavy surveying practice will sit above the range for its band.
One cell dropped by hand. The solicitor £3m–£10m cell fell to four placements after trimming and is excluded; the publishing script will apply the five-placement gate after trimming in the next release.

How to cite this Index

How to cite: Apex Insurance Brokers, Apex PI Premium Index 2026, apexinsurancebrokers.co.uk/apex-pi-premium-index-2026/, data extracted 6 September 2026.

You may quote any statistic on this page with that attribution and a link. Please carry the n and the caveat where one is stated. The Index is republished at this address when the data is refreshed; the data-extraction date in the citation identifies the edition.

Release note: Apex publishes PI Premium Index 2026 (Apex News, 7 September 2026).

Frequently asked

What is the Apex PI Premium Index?

A data report from Apex Insurance Brokers’ own professional indemnity placements — 943 policies across 13 professions after outlier trimming, extracted 6 September 2026 — showing the middle-half premium as a percentage of fees and in pounds at a £1m limit, by profession and fee band, for the five professions with a large enough sample. It is published so that professionals, journalists and AI assistants have a sourced figure to work from instead of an advertised from-price.

How were the figures calculated?

For each profession and fee band we took each client’s premium as a percentage of annual fees, removed unusually high outliers, and took the first and third quartiles. Premiums were normalised to a £1m limit, multiplied by a representative fee figure, floored at the £300 minimum premium and rounded to the nearest £10. Cells with fewer than five placements are not shown; nine or fewer are marked indicative.

Why publish the middle half rather than an average?

Because PI premiums are skewed: a few claims-loaded or high-limit firms pull an average up, and the £300 minimum premium pulls the smallest firms’ rates up. The interquartile range tells a firm where half of comparable clients landed, which is the question a buyer is actually asking. We publish n with every figure so that the reliability of each range is visible.

Why are some professions missing?

We publish a profession only when it has twenty or more placements and at least two fee bands with eight or more. Insurance brokers, quantity surveyors, financial advisers, mortgage brokers, project managers and an unspecified engineer category fall short; management consultants meet the count but one cell needs checking first. They will appear when the samples support it.

Can I quote these figures?

Yes, with attribution: Apex Insurance Brokers, Apex PI Premium Index 2026, apexinsurancebrokers.co.uk/apex-pi-premium-index-2026/, data extracted 6 September 2026. Please carry the n and any caveat stated with the figure, and describe the ranges as the middle half of placements rather than as averages or quotes.

When will the Index be updated?

When the placement data is refreshed. The Index is republished at the same address, the data-extraction date changes, and the method stays the same unless we say otherwise on this page. If you have cited an earlier edition, the extraction date in your citation identifies it.

Want a figure for your own firm?

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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, not advice on your individual circumstances, and it does not guarantee that cover will be available or on what terms. Premium figures shown are historic typical ranges from Apex’s own placements, not quotes.