FCA authorised · FRN 7249520117 325 0027Quote & buy →
Six factors do most of the work in a PI rating exercise. They are the profession or activity being insured, the firm’s gross fee income, the claims and circumstance history, the limit of indemnity chosen, the retention (deductible) accepted, and the state of the wider insurance market at the point of placement. Each of these interacts with the others, and the interaction is rarely linear.
Different professions attract materially different rates per £1 of income. As a broad order of magnitude, solicitors, insolvency practitioners and construction consultants tend to sit at the higher end of the scale, reflecting the frequency and severity of claims the market has seen in those disciplines. Accountants, financial advisers and surveyors sit in a middle band, again reflecting claims experience and the compulsory minimum limits their regulators require. IT consultants, management consultants and marketing professionals typically sit at the lower end, though the range within that group is wide and depends heavily on the nature of the work — a consultant advising on safety-critical systems is priced very differently from one advising on brand strategy. Explore the profession pages for context: solicitors, architects, accountants, financial advisers and IT consultants.
Income is the primary exposure measure. Underwriters use it as a proxy for how much work has been done and therefore how much could, in principle, give rise to a claim. Rating is not perfectly linear — a firm with double the income does not necessarily pay double the premium — but the direction of travel is clear. Firms that grow quickly, or that step into new service lines, should expect a fresh underwriting review rather than a proportional adjustment on last year’s number.
ACCA requires a minimum PI limit of the greater of 2.5 times relevant total income or £100,000 where total income is under £600,000, and at least £1.5m where total income is £600,000 or more, with the uninsured excess restricted to £20,000 per principal.
Nothing moves a PI premium faster than the claims record. A clean five-year experience tends to attract credit; a recent notified circumstance, even without a paid loss, will draw scrutiny; a paid claim will typically push pricing materially higher and may narrow the field of insurers willing to quote at all. Firms should notify circumstances properly and promptly under the terms of the policy — failing to do so can prejudice cover and, when discovered later, is far more damaging to renewal than the original event.
The limit chosen is a significant driver but the cost of buying additional limit is not proportional. Doubling a limit from £1m to £2m does not double the premium; the incremental cost of each layer typically reduces as the limit rises, because the probability of a claim reaching the higher layers falls. That said, firms should not choose a limit purely on price. Regulatory minimums (where they apply), contractual requirements from clients, and the realistic worst-case exposure of the work all bear on the decision.
Profession is the first cost driver on this page largely because different professions are required to buy different limits.
| Regulator / body | Minimum limit of indemnity | Basis | Run-off required | Excess cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SRA (solicitors) | £3m for a relevant recognised body or relevant licensed body; £2m in all other cases | Any one claim; no monetary limit on defence costs | Six years after cessation | Not fixed in the Minimum Terms |
| ICAEW (chartered accountants) | £2m; or 2.5 × gross fee income (minimum £250,000) where gross fee income is under £800,000 | Any single claim and in the aggregate | At least two years, then all reasonable steps for a further four | Aggregate excess capped at the higher of £3,000 or 3% of gross fee income |
| ACCA | Total income under £600,000: greater of 2.5 × relevant total income or £100,000. Total income £600,000 or more: at least £1.5m | Per ACCA Global Practising Regulations | Not published as a fixed period in this source | Uninsured excess restricted to £20,000 per principal |
| AAT (licensed members) | Sole traders: greater of 2.5 × gross fee income or £50,000. Partnerships and limited companies: greater of 2.5 × gross fee income or £100,000. Maximum required cover £1m where gross fee income exceeds £400,000 | Full civil liability, fully retroactive | Not published as a fixed period in this source | Set at a level the member can meet at all times |
| RICS (chartered surveyors) | Turnover £100,000 or less: £250,000. £100,001–£200,000: £500,000. £200,001 and above: £1m | Each and every claim (or aggregate plus unlimited round-the-clock reinstatement); defence costs in addition to the limit | Six years; consumer run-off £1m in all for six years | Greater of 2.5% of the sum insured or £10,000, for limits up to £10m |
| ARB (architects) | £250,000 | Each and every claim, except fire safety, cladding, asbestos and pollution which may be aggregate | Six years, or five years in Scotland, at the same level as the last year before cessation | Not published |
| FCA — insurance intermediaries (MIPRU 3.2) | €1,300,380 for a single claim; in aggregate the higher of €1,924,560 or 10% of annual income, capped at £30m | Per year | Not set in MIPRU 3.2 | Higher of £2,500 or 1.5% of annual income (no client money); higher of £5,000 or 3% (client money held) |
| FCA — IDD insurance intermediaries (IPRU-INV 13.1) | Relevant income up to £3m: at least £500,000 single claim and aggregate. Relevant income over £3m: at least £650,000 single claim | Per policy | Not set in IPRU-INV 13.1 | Excess over £5,000 requires additional capital resources |
Sources: SRA Minimum Terms and Conditions (sra.org.uk); ICAEW PII Regulations effective 1 September 2024, regs 3.2, 3.3, 3.7 (icaew.com); ACCA Professional Indemnity Insurance Regulations (accaglobal.com); AAT professional indemnity insurance requirements (aat.org.uk); RICS Professional indemnity insurance requirements, UK and Republic of Ireland, 2 July 2025 (rics.org); ARB PII Guidance (arb.org.uk); FCA MIPRU 3.2 (handbook.fca.org.uk) and IPRU-INV 13.1 (handbook.fca.org.uk). Figures are the published minimums at the date shown on each source and are not advice; check your own body’s current rules.
A higher retention — the amount the firm carries itself before the policy responds — will generally reduce premium, sometimes materially. It also increases the firm’s balance-sheet exposure on any single matter, so the trade-off needs to be sized against cash reserves and the volume of small claims a firm typically sees. The market cycle sits over everything: in a hardening market rates rise across the board and capacity contracts; in a softening market insurers compete more openly on price and terms. See the PI market cycle explainer for how this affects renewal planning.
Consider two solicitors’ firms of comparable size, both buying the same limit, the same retention and the same broad scope of cover. Firm A has five clean years with no notifications. Firm B notified a matter last year that settled for £180,000. Assuming everything else is equal, Firm A’s premium will be materially lower than Firm B’s — not because the underlying work is inherently different, but because the underwriting judgment about future claims frequency and severity has been reset by the paid loss. Renewal history, the state of the market at renewal, and firm-specific factors such as risk-management improvements all compound on top. The role of the broker is to secure the best available terms given the firm’s profile, and to present the risk in a way that reflects fair presentation under the Insurance Act 2015.
Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Firm reference number 724952. This entry is general information, not advice on any particular policy.
A guideline range built from the premiums insurers have actually quoted on risks we handle. Pick your profession and enter a few details — it updates instantly.
Choose your profession and enter your fee income to see a guideline range.
This guide is built from Apex's own market data: the premiums insurers have actually quoted and charged on professional indemnity risks we have handled. Each night that data is aggregated into anonymised rate bands by profession, fee income and limit of indemnity. No client information is published — a band only appears where it contains at least five separate records, and unusually high premiums are excluded so a single atypical risk cannot distort the guide.
The range shown spans the typical spread of recent market outcomes for similar risks. Individual quotes can fall outside it in either direction. Figures exclude insurance premium tax at 12%.
This calculator is not a quote and is not an offer of insurance or advice. Your actual premium depends on full underwriting of your business, including your activities, claims record and insurer appetite at the time.
Typical annual premium for £1m of professional indemnity cover at around £100,000 fee income, based on quotes we arranged:
| Profession | Typical premium (£1m limit) |
|---|---|
| Accountant | £500 – £775 |
| Architect | £1,050 – £1,950 |
| Chartered Surveyor | £975 – £2,050 |
| Engineer (Civil / Structural) | £2,400 – £4,100 |
| Landscape Gardener | £725 – £925 |
| Management Consultant | £375 – £575 |
| Mortgage Broker | £800 – £1,350 |
| Quantity Surveyor | £950 – £1,700 |
Source: Apex Insurance Brokers’ own rate model, fitted to real quotes we arranged. Baseline before IPT, clean claims history, standard risk. Premiums scale with fee income — see each profession’s cost page for the full table. Model last generated 2026-08-22; reviewed 22 August 2026.
