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D&O insurance cost · Updated September 2026
Advertised D&O insurance starts at £5 to £14.67 a month in the UK, but those prices attach to £25,000 and £250,000 limits; the nearest published benchmark for a £1 million limit is £345 a year for a small private company, and from there the premium is set by turnover, balance sheet, sector, funding and regulation.
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In short
Directors and officers insurance is advertised from £5 a month (Markel Direct: a business consultant with a £25,000 limit), £7.94 a month (Superscript, no basis stated) and £14.67 a month for a £250,000 limit (PolicyBee: an IT consultancy earning up to £80,000, including IPT), all checked on 6 September 2026. Get Indemnity, a D&O broker, puts a £1 million limit for a small private company at from £345 a year, with £2 million costing 60–75% more. The premium then follows turnover and balance sheet, sector, investors, US exposure, insolvency risk, regulation, claims, the limit and extensions such as employment practices liability. Apex, an independent Bristol broker established in 2009 with access to over 30 markets including Lloyd’s, arranges D&O and trustees’ indemnity alongside professional indemnity, and usually returns three or four competing quotes set out like for like.
£5 a month
Markel Direct — its basis: a business consultant requiring a £25,000 D&O limit£7.94 a month
Superscript — in its page title; no basis stated£14.67 a month
PolicyBee, £250,000 limit — an IT consultancy earning up to £80,000, including 12% IPT£345 a year
Get Indemnity, a D&O broker — its starting premium for a £1 million limit for a small private companyThose four numbers describe four different products. The two lowest attach to £25,000 and £250,000 limits; only the £345 figure is quoted at a £1 million limit. All were checked on the providers’ own pages on 6 September 2026.
| Provider | Published figure | Stated basis | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Markel Direct | from £5.00 a month | “Price based on a business consultant requiring £25,000 of directors’ and officers’ insurance” | markeluk.com |
| Superscript | from £7.94 a month | Page title only; no limit, business type or period given | gosuperscript.com |
| PolicyBee | from £14.67 a month for £250,000 cover | “Based on a quote for an IT Consultancy with an annual income of up to £80,000. All prices include IPT at 12%”; quotes online for turnovers up to £10 million | policybee.co.uk |
| Get Indemnity (broker) | from £345 a year (£28.75 a month) for £1m | “for a small private company”; a £2m limit is “usually a +60–75% increase” on £1m; EPL “will usually start at £350–£400 as a minimum premium”; page undated | getindemnity.co.uk |
| Insurance Revolution (broker blog, 4 August 2025) | “from around £250 per year for small firms”; low-risk small business £250–£500; medium firm £500–£2,000 | No data source given for the ranges | insurancerevolution.co.uk |
| Hiscox | No price published | “A D&O insurance policy can cover you from £100,000 to £10 million” | hiscox.co.uk |
Unless a provider says otherwise, check whether its figure includes Insurance Premium Tax at 12%; any premium you are quoted will carry it.
D&O is rated on the company, not the individual directors. Underwriters read the accounts first, then the sector, then the ownership and funding, then the specific exposures that generate claims.
| Factor | Why it matters | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Turnover and balance sheet | Bigger companies attract bigger claims; weak solvency, negative net assets or short-term funding signal insolvency-related claims | Larger or weaker: higher |
| Sector | Financial services, property, construction, healthcare and consumer-facing or regulated businesses are rated as higher-risk sectors than a small professional services company | Sector-dependent |
| Funding and investors | External shareholders are a common source of claims, alongside insolvency practitioners; a funding round brings warranties, a pitch deck and a shareholders’ agreement, all litigable | VC or PE-backed: higher, and often required by the investor |
| US exposure | US subsidiaries, customers or securities bring US litigation exposure | Higher; some insurers decline |
| Insolvency risk | Wrongful trading, preference and misfeasance claims are brought by liquidators against directors personally | Loss-making or thinly capitalised: higher; distressed: hard to place |
| Regulated status | FCA, PRA, SRA, CQC and similar regimes generate investigation costs and personal accountability | Regulated: higher, and investigation cover matters more |
| Claims and circumstances | Prior claims, regulatory action, disqualification proceedings, shareholder disputes | Higher; disclosure is essential |
| Limit | Limits run from £100,000 to £10 million (Hiscox’s stated range); Get Indemnity puts the step from £1m to £2m at roughly 60–75% more premium | Higher limit: higher, but not pro rata |
| Entity cover and extensions | Entity cover, employment practices liability (EPL), corporate legal liability and pension trustee liability each add premium; Get Indemnity puts EPL at a £350–£400 minimum and corporate legal liability at about 25% of the D&O premium | Each extension: higher |
| Listed or private | Listed companies face securities claims and a different market; private companies are the bulk of the SME market | Listed: materially higher |
Directors are covered as a class — past, present and future — rather than named individually, so the premium follows the company’s risk profile more than the size of the board.
We hold no D&O placement data and will not invent any, but the figures above can be read against each other while each keeps its basis:
The pattern is consistent: for a solvent private company with no external investors and no US exposure, a meaningful limit costs hundreds of pounds a year rather than thousands, and the price rises with balance-sheet size, funding, regulation and sector before it rises with the limit. A company that is loss-making, regulated, VC-backed or trading in the US should not expect the starting figures to apply.
D&O is not a legal requirement. The Companies Act 2006 allows a company to buy it for its directors (section 233); it is bought because directors’ duties are personal and their liability is unlimited. Where it is demanded or most clearly needed:
Buying online is reasonable for a small, solvent, privately owned company with no external investors, no regulated activity, no US business and no claims, buying a modest limit against the ordinary run of employment and shareholder disputes. PolicyBee, Markel Direct and Superscript sell to that company, and PolicyBee states it quotes online for turnovers up to £10 million.
Use a broker when an investor or lender has specified a limit or wording; when the company is regulated, loss-making, recently restructured or trading in the US; after a claim, investigation or disqualification threat; when entity cover, EPL, pension trustee or crime cover need fitting together as a management liability programme; or when the online journey declines or refers you. Those are the cases where the market narrows and the wording — the definition of insured person, the insolvency and regulatory provisions, the run-off and change-of-control terms — decides whether the policy is worth anything.
Comparison sites publish business insurance figures for public liability, professional indemnity and employers’ liability (MoneySuperMarket) or public liability only (Compare the Market), both reviewed August 2026; D&O is not one of the products they price.
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 professional firms and small businesses 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.
For D&O we ask for the last filed accounts, the shareholder and funding picture, the regulatory status and any circumstances, and present them to the management-liability underwriters that fit the company rather than to whoever is lowest-priced at a £25,000 limit. If you hold professional indemnity with us, we check where a claim against a director for professional work would sit. Start with the D&O quote page.
On 6 September 2026 the advertised entry prices were £5 a month at Markel Direct (a £25,000 limit for a business consultant), £7.94 a month at Superscript (no basis stated) and £14.67 a month at PolicyBee for a £250,000 limit (an IT consultancy earning up to £80,000, including IPT). Get Indemnity, a D&O broker, puts a £1 million limit for a small private company at from £345 a year; its page does not say whether that includes Insurance Premium Tax at 12%.
No neutral UK average is published that we could verify, and the from-prices you see are for the smallest limits. The nearest benchmark is Get Indemnity’s starting point of £345 a year for a £1 million limit for a small private company, with £2 million costing 60–75% more; Insurance Revolution’s blog suggests £250–£500 for a low-risk small business and £500–£2,000 for a medium firm, without a stated data source.
A director’s liability is personal and unlimited; the company’s limited liability does not protect the individual. Claims come from liquidators, shareholders, employees and regulators, and the cost of defending an allegation is incurred whether or not it succeeds. For a solvent small private company a meaningful limit costs hundreds of pounds a year on the published figures above; the comparison to make is against the cost of defending one investigation or one shareholder dispute.
No. There is no statutory requirement to hold D&O in the UK; the Companies Act 2006 (section 233) simply permits a company to buy and maintain insurance for its directors against liabilities they incur in that role. It becomes a contractual requirement when an investor, lender, regulator, franchise or major customer makes it one, and a practical necessity when directors face insolvency, regulatory or employment claims personally.
A basic D&O policy covers the individuals, and reimburses the company where it indemnifies them. Entity cover, which protects the company itself against certain claims, is an extension, as are employment practices liability, corporate legal liability, pension trustee liability and crime. A package combining several of these is usually sold as management liability insurance; which extensions you need depends on where your claims are most likely to come from.
Start from who could claim and what defending it would cost: a liquidator’s wrongful-trading claim, a regulator’s investigation, a shareholder dispute or an employment tribunal each carry defence costs before any award. Investors and lenders will often name the limit for you. The entry products are priced at £25,000 and £250,000; £1 million is the limit the published broker benchmark uses for a small private company.
Claims by liquidators and administrators against directors personally are one of the main reasons D&O exists, and a standard wording responds to them subject to conditions. Read the insolvency provisions carefully: some policies restrict cover once the company is insolvent, and deliberate dishonesty or illegal personal gain is excluded everywhere. If the company is already distressed the market narrows, and the policy must be arranged before the position deteriorates further.
A claim against a named director or manager personally, for discrimination or unfair dismissal alongside the company, sits within D&O. A claim against the company as employer needs employment practices liability (EPL), an extension or a section of a management liability package; Get Indemnity puts EPL at a minimum premium of £350–£400. For a small company with staff, EPL is worth pricing alongside D&O.
Yes. Charities buy trustee indemnity insurance, the sector’s form of D&O, to protect trustees and senior staff personally. Residents’ management companies buy D&O for their volunteer leaseholder-directors, who can be sued by other leaseholders, contractors or the freeholder. Both are standard classes, and both are usually arranged through a broker because the online products are built for trading companies.
The last filed accounts (and management accounts if they are old), a description of the business and its ownership, any external investors, funding or planned transactions, any US business, regulatory status, employee numbers, and a declaration of claims, investigations and known circumstances, on a proposal form signed by a director. Presenting this accurately is your duty of fair presentation under the Insurance Act 2015, and a clear presentation gets better terms.
Send us the accounts, the ownership picture and any circumstances, and a named broker will approach the management-liability markets that fit. Or call 0117 325 0027.
Get a D&O quote Request a callbackApex 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. Every premium figure on it is a third party’s own published figure, reproduced with the basis and date that provider states; none is an Apex quote or a typical price, and Apex holds no placement data for this class.
