Apex News · Market data · 7 September 2026

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

Architects billing around £150,000 a year typically paid £1,130 to £2,070 for £1m of cover; accountants pay the lowest rate of any profession. The Index is built from around 940 of Apex’s own placements.

By Matthew Bartlett, Director, Apex Insurance Brokers · Published 7 September 2026 · Bristol · All news

In short

Apex Insurance Brokers has published the Apex PI Premium Index 2026, a dataset of what UK professional firms actually paid for professional indemnity insurance, drawn from around 940 recent Apex placements after outlier removal. It shows typical annual premium ranges by profession and fee band at a £1m limit: an architect billing around £150,000 typically paid £1,130–£2,070 (128 placements); an accountancy practice with £500,000 of fees typically paid £1,520–£2,200 (49); and across 526 architect placements premiums ran between 0.82% and 2.33% of fees. Figures are the middle half of placements, not quotes, and are published with sample sizes and method.

What the Index shows

The Index reports the middle half of what firms paid — a quarter paid less than the bottom of each range and a quarter paid more — after removing unusually high outliers, with every policy normalised to the cost of a £1m limit so that different limits compare like for like. Cells are published only where Apex has at least five placements, and small cells are marked indicative.

Architects — around £150,000 of fees: £1,130–£2,070 a year for £1m of cover (n = 128); around £50,000 of fees: £720–£1,260 (n = 171).
Accountants — £500,000 of fees: £1,520–£2,200 (n = 49); across 132 placements the rate was 0.34%–0.56% of fees, the lowest of any profession in the data.
Chartered surveyors — around £50,000 of fees: £650–£1,430 (n = 32); around £150,000: £1,170–£2,670 (n = 20).
The small-firm penalty — architecture practices billing under £25,000 typically paid 3.4%–6.2% of fees, five to six times the 0.56%–1.16% paid by practices billing £250,000 to £1m (n = 80 and 139).
Same size, different price — an architecture practice with £500,000 of fees paid roughly twice what an accountancy practice of the same size paid: £2,810–£5,780 against £1,520–£2,200.

Why it matters

Until now the only public price points for professional indemnity were insurers’ and comparison sites’ “from £6 a month” headlines, which are the cheapest tenth of their customers or a £50,000-limit contractor quote. The Index gives a buyer a benchmark for a firm like theirs, with the sample size beside it. It also gives a firm at renewal a way to judge whether an increase is the market or the presentation.

The Index is republished when the underlying data is refreshed, and the method, limitations and a citation line are published with it.

Where to read it

Sources

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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 article is news and general information, not advice on your individual circumstances. Corrections: email info@apexinsurancebrokers.co.uk; corrections are noted and dated on the article.