FCA authorised · FRN 7249520117 325 0027Quote & buy →
Contract requirements · Certificate of insurance · Checked 7 September 2026
A certificate of insurance is the routine way to prove your cover to a client. It confirms what you hold — but it is evidence only: it does not change the policy or give the person holding it any rights under it.
Part of: A client or contract requires insurance
In short
A certificate of insurance is a short document confirming that a business holds active cover. It typically shows the types of cover, the limits of indemnity, the policy numbers and periods, the insured’s legal name, and the broker who issued it, so a client can check you hold the right cover for the right period. The key point is that a certificate is evidence only: as one specialist broker puts it, it ‘should not amend, broaden, or override the policy’, and it gives the holder no rights under it. Producing one is quick and routine — a broker issues it — but it is not the same as being named on the policy.
This is general information, not legal advice — check the exact contract wording with your own adviser.
A certificate of insurance is, in the words of the specialist broker Get Indemnity, ‘a short document that confirms a business has active insurance cover in place’. It lets a third party verify that you hold the relevant cover, for the correct period, with appropriate limits (Get Indemnity). When a client, landlord, main contractor or procurement team asks for ‘evidence of cover’, a certificate is almost always what they mean, and it is the easy, routine way to satisfy the ask.
The important point is what a certificate does not do. It is evidence only: as Get Indemnity puts it, a certificate ‘should not amend, broaden, or override the policy’, and the policy wording and schedule govern the actual cover position (Get Indemnity). Crucially, a certificate does not give the person holding it any rights under your policy.
That is why a certificate is not the same as being made a joint or named insured. If a client needs actual rights under your cover, that is a different and stronger request — see adding a client as additional insured — and a certificate will not deliver it (Gowling WLG). Read the ask carefully: ‘send us your certificate’ and ‘name us on your policy’ are very different things.
A certificate of insurance typically sets out:
Those contents let a client confirm you hold the right cover, for the right period, at the right limits (Get Indemnity).
Getting a certificate is one of the simplest requirements to meet:
If a contract has set you a deadline, the fastest route to compliant cover and a certificate is an independent broker who can test the market, place the cover on the right basis and issue the certificate your client needs.
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 commercial and professional firms 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.
It is a short document confirming that a business holds active insurance cover. It typically lists the types of cover, the limits of indemnity, the policy numbers and periods, the insured’s legal name and the broker who issued it, so a third party can verify you hold the right cover for the right period. It is the routine way to answer a request for evidence of cover.
No. A certificate is evidence only. As the broker Get Indemnity puts it, it ‘should not amend, broaden, or override the policy’, and the policy wording and schedule govern the actual cover. It confirms that cover exists but gives the holder no rights under your policy. For the client to have rights, they would need to be made a joint or named insured, which is a separate ask.
Typically the types of cover you hold, the limit of indemnity for each, the policy numbers and periods of cover, the insured’s legal name, and the broker that issued it. Those details let a client check that you hold the cover the contract requires, at the right limits, for the right period, and that the insured name matches the party they are dealing with.
Ask your broker. A certificate is a routine document to produce once your policy is in place, so it is usually issued quickly. Check that the legal name, limits and cover periods on it match what your contract asks for before you send it to the client, and ask your broker to reissue it at renewal if the client needs current evidence.
No. A certificate proves your cover exists; being added to the policy as a joint or named insured gives the other party its own rights under it. A contract asking for a certificate wants evidence; one asking to be named, or to have its interest noted, wants something stronger. Read which the client has asked for, because they are not interchangeable.
Usually not long. Once the underlying cover is in place, a broker can normally issue a certificate quickly, because it simply records details that already exist on the policy. If you do not yet hold the cover the client wants evidenced, the time is mostly in arranging the policy; the certificate follows. Tell your broker any deadline the client has set.
Often, yes — the policy schedule also shows your cover, limits and periods, and some clients accept it. A certificate is simply a tidier summary aimed at third parties. The client may specify which they want, so check the request; if they have asked for a certificate specifically, your broker can provide one rather than the full schedule.
Send us the clause or the certificate request. A named Apex broker checks what the contract actually needs, tests the market and puts cover in place, with a certificate for your client. Or call 0117 325 0027.
Get a quote Start a commercial quoteApex 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 legal advice, and it does not guarantee that cover will be available or on what terms. Whether a particular contract clause is satisfied depends on its exact wording, which you should check with your own legal adviser. Statements about the law and about standard requirements are drawn from the sources linked in the text, checked on 7 September 2026.
