Non-Standard PI Desk · Five-working-day standard · UK

The Apex Non-Standard PI Desk: a straight answer in five working days

A CCJ, a claim, a decline or a finding usually gets you silence or a form that says no. The Desk exists to give you an answer instead: yes, no, or the terms — with reasons.

Part of: Non-standard professional indemnity

In short

The Apex Non-Standard PI Desk is a named service for professional indemnity risks that online forms and schemes decline: county court judgments, adverse credit or insolvency history, claims and notified circumstances, previous declines or non-renewals, unspent convictions, regulator or professional-body findings, and unusual work. Its published standard is a straight answer — yes, no, or the terms, with the reasons and what would change the answer — within five working days of our having the documents we ask for. It cannot guarantee that cover will be available; it guarantees that you will know where you stand. 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 firms with non-standard professional indemnity risks 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.

The five-working-day standard

The clock starts when we have what we ask for on day one: your schedule, the last proposal form or presentation, any decline or non-renewal correspondence, a short account of the issue with dates, evidence where it exists (a certificate of satisfaction, a discharge certificate, a regulator’s decision, an insurer’s claims summary), and three years’ fee income. Within five working days you get one of three answers:

Yes — indicative terms from one or more insurers, with the premium range, excess, exclusions and any conditions, and what we still need to bind.
Yes, but — the market will write it on restricted terms; here they are, here is why, and here is what would improve them next year.
No, and here is why — which markets we approached, what they said, and what would have to change for the answer to be different.

If a market needs longer than five working days to respond, we tell you on day five what we are waiting for and when we expect it.

What the Desk handles

Also: fire-safety and cladding exposure, lender valuations, defined-benefit transfer history, US and Canadian clients, crypto and blockchain work, medical and clinical work, start-ups with no trading history, and firms that are successors to another practice.

How the Desk works

Day one: a conversation. What happened, when, why, and what has changed. Many ‘declines’ are a form misreading an ordinary situation; some are not, and we say which on the call.
A written presentation. The issue on page one, stated plainly with evidence, meeting your duty of fair presentation under the Insurance Act 2015. Underwriters respect it and price it better than a ‘yes’ in a box.
The right markets, in order. Among the 30-plus markets we use, including Lloyd’s, some underwrite non-standard risks as a matter of course. We go to those, and we do not shop your risk to everyone.
The answer, in writing, by day five. With the trade-offs explained and the next step clear.
The same named broker afterwards. A clean twelve months is the best thing you can bring to next year’s renewal, and we plan for it.

What the Desk cannot promise

That cover will be available. Some risks are uninsurable in the standard market at a given moment; we tell you that on day five rather than in the last week before expiry.
Standard terms. A loading, a higher excess, an exclusion or premium payable in full are common outcomes for non-standard risks.
Anything without full disclosure. We will not present a risk in a way that hides a material fact, because it would not protect you: under the Insurance Act 2015 the insurer could avoid the policy at claim time.

Never let existing cover lapse while the Desk is working. A gap in claims-made cover can leave past work permanently uninsured.

Frequently asked

Is five working days guaranteed?

It is our published standard and we hold ourselves to it. The clock starts when we have the documents we ask for. If an insurer needs longer, we tell you on day five exactly what we are waiting for and when we expect it, rather than going quiet.

Does the Desk charge a fee?

No fee for the answer. If we place cover, we are paid by the insurer in the normal way and our terms of business apply.

Will you approach every insurer to find one that says yes?

No. Blanket-marketing a non-standard risk damages it. We approach the insurers that underwrite the issue you have, in an order that protects your position, and we tell you who they were.

My risk was declined by another broker last month — will you look at it?

Yes. Send the decline and the presentation that was used. A fresh presentation to the right markets sometimes changes the answer; sometimes it does not, and we will say which.

What if the answer is no?

You get the reasons, which markets said no, and what would have to change. For regulated professions we also set out the fallback — the SRA’s extended and cessation periods, the ICAEW Assigned Risks Pool — so you can plan rather than guess.

Put your risk to the Desk

Send the decline, the schedule and a paragraph on what happened. A named Apex broker will come back within five working days of having what we need with a yes, a no, or the terms. Or call 0117 325 0027.

Send it to the Desk → Request a callback

Apex 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 about professional indemnity insurance, not advice on your individual circumstances, and it does not guarantee that cover will be available or on what terms.