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Claims & loss history
A run of claims, or one recent large loss, makes commercial insurance harder to place — but rarely impossible. Underwriters read your claims history for what it says about future risk, so the same losses can be priced very differently depending on how they are explained and what you have changed since. With a full, honest presentation and a clear claims narrative, cover can usually still be arranged on workable terms.
Part of: Non-standard business insurance
In short
Yes — you can almost always get business insurance with previous claims, but your claims history shapes the premium, the excess and the conditions rather than deciding whether cover is available at all. Insurers price on context: a single large loss that has been fixed is read very differently from a pattern of frequent, similar claims that suggests an ongoing problem. They look at how often you claim, how severe the losses were, how recent they are, their cause, whether anything has been done to prevent a repeat, and whether claims are open or settled. Under the Insurance Act 2015 you must give a full and honest account of every claim and circumstance — understating or omitting a loss is misrepresentation and can let the insurer void the policy. A clear claims narrative, explaining what happened and what has changed, is what turns a difficult record into an acceptable risk.
A run of claims shapes your terms, not whether you can be covered. Send us the loss runs. Or call 0117 325 0027.
Get a quote Call 0117 325 0027Yes. A poor or recent claims history very rarely makes commercial insurance impossible to arrange — but it does change the conversation. Instead of a quick quote, underwriters want to understand the losses behind the figures before they price the risk.
Most businesses that have had a difficult few years can still be placed. What changes is the shape of the terms: you may face a higher excess, a premium that reflects recent experience, specific conditions attached to the cause of past claims, or a requirement to improve risk management before cover incepts. Cover for the type of loss you keep having may carry its own, larger excess.
The important shift in mindset is this: a claims record is not a pass or fail mark. It is information. Two businesses with identical losses can be offered very different terms depending on how those losses are explained and what has changed since. That is why presentation matters as much as the history itself.
When you approach the market, your broker will ask for your claims experience — often called a loss run. This is the record, supplied by your current and previous insurers, of every claim made over recent years: the date, the type of loss, the amount paid, and whether each claim is settled or still open. Underwriters read far more into this than a simple total.
They are not just adding up what has been paid out. They are trying to judge how likely you are to claim again, and how large that claim might be. The same overall figure can point to a well-run business that had one unlucky year, or to a risk that keeps going wrong.
| What underwriters look at | What it tells them |
|---|---|
| Frequency — how often you claim | A steady drip of small claims often worries an underwriter more than one large loss, because it points to a recurring, systemic issue. |
| Severity — how large the losses were | One major claim may be a genuine one-off; it is read differently from many smaller losses that add up to the same total. |
| Recency — how long ago | A serious loss several years ago carries far less weight than the same loss suffered only recently; claims fade as clean years follow. |
| Cause — what actually went wrong | A flood from a freak weather event reads very differently from repeated escape-of-water claims caused by ageing pipework. |
| Whether it has been addressed | Evidence that you have fixed the root cause — rewiring, better security, revised procedures — is the strongest signal you can send. |
| Open vs settled claims | An open claim is an unknown future cost; unresolved matters create uncertainty and can hold up terms until reserves are clearer. |
This is also why a gap or error in your loss run is a problem: if the figures do not match what an insurer can see, it raises questions about everything else you have told them.
Want your claims history presented to underwriters who price on context? Or call 0117 325 0027.
Get a quote Call 0117 325 0027Underwriters quietly sort claims into two groups, and understanding the difference helps you present your own record honestly.
Claims that read as bad luck are one-off, external and unlikely to repeat: a storm that took off part of a roof, a third-party driver who caused an accident, a single theft after a break-in, or a customer injury that turned out to be unavoidable. These events raise a premium far less — especially once a clean period has followed — because nothing about the business itself made them likely.
Claims that suggest an ongoing problem point back to how the business is run: repeated slips and trips in the same premises, several escape-of-water claims from the same old pipework, a pattern of similar liability claims, or the same type of damage recurring. Frequency is the warning sign here. A cluster of similar losses tells an underwriter the cause has not been dealt with, and that the next claim is probably already on its way.
The encouraging part is that the second group is the one you can most improve. A recurring problem that you have visibly tackled — and can prove you have tackled — can be re-presented as a risk that is now under control, which is a very different proposition from an unaddressed one.
This is the part of the page to read twice. Under the Insurance Act 2015, every commercial policyholder owes a duty of fair presentation: you must disclose every material fact an underwriter would want to know, clearly and accurately, and that absolutely includes your full claims history.
In practice, that means you must declare:
Understating your losses, quietly dropping an open claim, or “forgetting” an inconvenient incident is not a harmless tidy-up — it is misrepresentation. If the insurer would have charged more, applied different terms, or declined the risk altogether had it known the truth, it can void the policy from inception and — most painfully — refuse to pay a future, unrelated claim. A difficult claims history is survivable. Being caught hiding one often is not.
If you are unsure whether something counts, disclose it. The duty is to make a fair presentation, and the cost of saying too much is nothing; the cost of saying too little can be your cover at the moment you need it most.
The difference between a difficult renewal and an impossible one is usually the claims narrative: a short, honest written account that sits alongside the raw figures and explains them. Loss runs tell an underwriter what happened; the narrative tells them why, and why it will not happen again.
A good narrative covers, claim by claim where it matters:
This reframes the whole submission. Instead of a list of problems, the underwriter sees a business that understands its own risks and has acted on them — which is exactly the kind of risk they want to write. Gather your supporting documents early: invoices for remedial work, service and maintenance contracts, risk assessments and any accreditation. The more you can evidence, the more credible the story.
A claims-heavy risk is rarely a job for a price-comparison website or an automated quote, which tend to decline or load the risk the moment a claims box is ticked. It is a job for a broker who can tell the story to a human underwriter.
A specialist broker adds value by:
None of this guarantees a particular outcome, and an honest broker will never promise one. But presenting the full picture to underwriters who price on context — rather than letting a claims history speak for itself — is very often the difference between terms you can work with and no terms at all. Cover for a business with a poor claims record can usually be arranged; it simply needs arranging properly.
A non-standard or high-value commercial risk is advice-led. A specialist broker searches the market rather than one insurer’s panel, presents the risk properly — which matters under the Insurance Act 2015 duty of fair presentation — and gets the details that decide a claim right. Buying a packaged policy direct can be fine for a simple, standard risk; for the risks on this page it rarely is.
Apex Insurance Brokers is an independent commercial insurance broker established in 2009 and based in Bristol, owned entirely by its directors and directly authorised by the FCA since 2016. We are not tied to any single insurer or 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, which is what lets us place a non-standard, high-value or hard-to-place risk that a packaged insurer might decline. We usually return three or four competing quotes set out so you can compare them like for like, every client has a named broker from first quote to renewal, and every claim gets director-level attention rather than a call-centre queue.
Usually, yes. Previous claims rarely make cover impossible — they shape the premium, the excess and the conditions rather than deciding whether you can be insured at all. Insurers price on context, so a well-explained history with evidence of what has changed can very often be placed on workable terms.
It is the record, supplied by your current and previous insurers, of every claim you have made over recent years — with the date, type, amount paid, and whether each claim is open or settled. Underwriters ask for it to judge how likely and how large future claims might be. Request yours early, as insurers can take time to produce it.
Yes. The duty of fair presentation covers every claim and incident regardless of blame or outcome, including claims made against you that were defended or withdrawn. Whether a loss was your fault is for the underwriter to weigh; your job is simply to disclose it fully and honestly.
Leaving out a claim, understating a loss or “forgetting” an incident is misrepresentation under the Insurance Act 2015. If the insurer would have acted differently knowing the truth, it can void the policy from the start and refuse to pay a future claim — even one unrelated to what you left out. Non-disclosure is far more dangerous than the claims themselves.
Yes, and they matter a great deal. An open claim is an unknown future cost, so underwriters treat it with caution and may hold back final terms until reserves are clearer. You must also declare any incident or circumstance that could still lead to a claim, even if no claim has yet been made.
There is no fixed rule, but recency is everything: a loss fades in significance as clean years follow it. A claim from several years ago, with improvements made since, carries far less weight than a recent one. Most proposal forms ask about the last several years, so older losses gradually drop out of the picture.
It can do both. Rather than simply loading the premium, underwriters often apply a higher excess — sometimes a specific, larger excess on the type of loss you keep having — so that you carry more of the smaller, frequent claims. This can actually keep the premium more manageable while reflecting the risk honestly.
Often, yes — but you must declare the previous decline, cancellation or special terms, as these are material facts. A specialist broker can present your full history and risk improvements to underwriters who assess difficult risks individually rather than auto-declining, and can approach markets that understand your trade. An honest broker will never guarantee acceptance, but difficult cases can frequently be placed.
Yes. If you employ staff, employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement regardless of your claims history, with a statutory minimum of £5 million of cover. A run of employers’ liability claims will affect your terms and may bring conditions around training and safety, but the cover itself must stay in place — a specialist broker can help keep it arranged.
Send us your loss runs and the story behind them, and a specialist broker will build an honest presentation for underwriters who price on context — so your terms reflect where your business is now, not its worst year. Or call 0117 325 0027.
Get a quote Call 0117 325 0027Apex 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.
