A checklist for UK professional services firms moving PI at renewal or mid-policy.
Switching motor insurer is a straightforward exercise. Switching professional indemnity insurer is not. PI is written on a claims-made basis, often with a retroactive date that determines which historic work is covered, and the cover required by the firm’s professional body or its largest clients can have its own continuity rules. A switch handled casually can leave a firm exposed to claims arising from work it thought was covered.
This checklist is written for two related decisions: changing PI broker (where the underlying insurer may or may not change), and changing PI insurer (which usually but not always involves a change of broker). The principles overlap. We have flagged the few items that are specific to one or the other.
There are four common scenarios:
Renewal switch, same broker: the broker re-tests the market and recommends a different insurer for the new policy year. This is the simplest scenario and the only changes are to the insurer-specific elements (wording, retroactive date, notification address).
Renewal switch, new broker: the firm appoints a new broker who places the new policy. The new broker takes over the relationship and the new insurer’s policy incepts at the renewal date.
Mid-policy switch of broker: the firm changes broker during the policy year, with the policy itself unchanged. The new broker becomes the broker of record and the firm should expect to receive a confirmation from the insurer that the change has been recorded.
Mid-policy switch of insurer: the firm cancels the existing policy and incepts a new one mid-year. This is rare and usually only happens in specific circumstances (insurer withdrawing from the market, change of regulated status, acquisition of the firm). It almost always requires careful handling of the retroactive date and may require run-off.
Whichever scenario applies, three principles always apply:
There must be no day on which the firm is uninsured. Cover must be continuous; the new arrangement must incept at the moment the old one ceases.
The firm’s prior work must remain covered. Either the new policy’s retroactive date is set early enough to cover the firm’s earliest exposure, or the old policy is left in place in run-off, or both.
The firm must have notified everything notifiable to the old insurer before the switch. A circumstance known about and not notified before the switch can fall into a gap between policies.
T-90 to T-60 before renewal (or 60 days before a planned mid-policy switch)
Decide why you are switching. The reason matters. A price-driven switch is handled differently from a service-driven switch, and a sector-fit switch is different again.
Confirm the firm has no open or unnotified circumstances. Run a documented circumstance review with every principal and senior fee-earner. Anything material is notified to the existing insurer in writing.
Pull the current policy schedule and wording. Note the limit, excess, retroactive date, named insured, territorial limit, jurisdiction limit, defence costs basis, and any specific endorsements.
Pull the firm’s claims history from the existing broker and insurer. A no-claims declaration or claims experience letter on insurer letterhead is the document a new market will ask for.
Identify any constraints set by your professional body. SRA-regulated firms, for example, must hold qualifying cover from a participating insurer at all times and there are specific rules about run-off on cessation. Other bodies have their own rules.
Identify any client contracts that require notice of any change in PI insurer, or specific minimum cover terms. Some commercial contracts and most public-sector contracts contain a clause of this kind.
Issue a written brief to the broker (current or new). The brief should describe the firm, the renewal requirement, the claims history, and the target programme.
T-60 to T-30 before renewal or switch
Receive market submission for sign-off. Read it. Sign it only when the disclosure is complete and accurate.
Receive quotations. Tabulate on a single page: insurer, limit, excess, premium, retroactive date, wording differences, any subjectivities.
Read the wording of the leading option side by side with the existing wording. Look in particular for differences in the definition of “professional services”, in the exclusions, and in the notification clause.
Check that the new policy’s retroactive date is set at or before the earliest date you require cover for. If the new insurer offers only a later retroactive date, the firm needs to decide whether to maintain the old policy in run-off, accept the exposure, or refuse the option.
Decide whether to request run-off cover under the existing policy. Run-off cover is sometimes free for a period, sometimes priced, and sometimes not available. The earlier this is raised, the more options the firm has.
Confirm in writing that the existing insurer has been formally notified of any matter that might mature into a claim. The notification must comply with the existing policy’s notification clause, not just be a casual email.
T-30 to T-7
Give the existing broker formal written notice of the switch (if a broker change is involved). Specify the effective date and the new broker’s details. Ask the existing broker to acknowledge the change in writing and to confirm any continuing obligations.
Where the firm has a Data Subject Access Right under data protection law to the underwriting file at the existing broker, decide whether to exercise it. The firm is the data subject (or one of them) and is entitled to a copy of much of the underwriting submission. This is worth doing where the firm has been with the broker for a long time and intends to maintain continuity of disclosure with the new broker.
Confirm the new policy’s commencement date, time and any subjectivities. Diary the deadline for satisfying any subjectivity.
Confirm payment arrangements. If premium finance is being used, the credit agreement should be in place before inception.
T-7 to T-0
Receive the new policy schedule and wording. Read them. Diary any continuing obligations (e.g. notify any change in fee income, or any change in regulated status, during the year).
Update the firm’s compliance log with the new policy details and notify the professional body if required.
Notify clients with contractual rights of notice of the change of insurer, with the new insurer’s name and certificate of cover where requested. Standard contractual practice is a short written notice; check the contract clauses.
After the switch
Trap 1: the retroactive date trap.
The retroactive date on a new policy determines which historic work is within cover. If the new policy carries a later retroactive date than the old one, the firm has a “blind period” for work done before the new date. Claims arising from work done in the blind period will not respond under the new policy and will need to respond under the old policy or under separate run-off cover. This is by some distance the most common and most damaging trap. Always read, compare and discuss the retroactive date.
Trap 2: the run-off scenario.
If the firm ceases trading, merges, or changes legal form, the old policy ends. Claims about work done during the old policy’s life may still be made for years afterwards, and they need a policy to respond. Run-off cover bridges that gap. For SRA-regulated firms, run-off is mandatory on cessation under the SRA Minimum Terms; for others, it is a commercial decision. A switch to a new firm or new entity is sometimes treated as a cessation by the old insurer and triggers a run-off obligation. Ask before assuming.
Trap 3: the claims-made gap.
If the old policy ends at midnight on day X and the new policy incepts at one minute past midnight on day X+1, the firm has a one-minute window with no cover. In that window, a claim first made against the firm has no policy to attach to. The gap can be longer where the firm has been mis-sold a “new for old” wording or where a subjectivity has not been satisfied. The two policies should overlap, or the new policy should incept at the exact moment the old one ends, with no light between them.
Trap 4: data access and the underwriting file.
The submission to insurers contains a record of what the firm disclosed at past renewals. A firm switching broker after several years may have lost sight of what was said and when. Under UK GDPR, the firm’s principals are usually data subjects in respect of much of this material. A Data Subject Access Request to the outgoing broker can recover the file, although the right is to personal data and the response is sometimes redacted. For a firm wanting full continuity of disclosure, this is a useful step. Take advice on the framing of the request.
A broker that is being replaced has continuing professional obligations to the firm in respect of work already done. They should acknowledge the change, provide a clean handover of policy documents, and continue to assist on any matters notified during their period of appointment.
What they are not required to do is to assist on new matters, or to continue to advocate for the firm on the next renewal. The expectations of the parties are best set out in writing at the point of the change.
Apex Insurance Brokers Ltd. Registered office: c/o Westcan, 5 Anglo Office Park, Bristol BS15 1NT. Trading address: QCS, 53 Queen Charlotte Street, Bristol BS1 4HQ. Registered in England and Wales, Companies House number 07014570. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, firm reference number 724952. Verify our registration at register.fca.org.uk.
Speak to Apex about your cover — 0117 325 0027 or info@apexinsurancebrokers.co.uk
Last reviewed: May 2026
Apex Insurance Brokers serves UK professional services firms and commercial businesses. Call 0117 325 0027, email hello@apexinsurancebrokers.co.uk, or request a quotation.
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