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PI in Bristol · Updated September 2026
Apex arranges professional indemnity insurance for Bristol solicitors, accountants, architects, surveyors, engineers, consultants and IT firms from its office in the old city, with access to over 30 insurers and usually three or four competing quotes.
Part of: Professional indemnity insurance at Apex
In short
Apex Insurance Brokers arranges professional indemnity insurance for Bristol firms — solicitors, accountants, architects, surveyors, engineers, consultants and IT firms — from QCS, 53 Queen Charlotte Street in the old city, and for firms across the UK. In Apex’s own recent placements an architecture practice billing around £150,000 typically paid £1,130 to £2,070 a year for £1m of cover (n = 128) and an accountancy practice with £500,000 of fees £1,520 to £2,200 (n = 49). Apex is an independent broker established in 2009, owned entirely by its directors and not for sale, directly authorised by the FCA since 2016 and not tied to any single insurer or professional-body scheme, with access to over 30 markets including Lloyd’s via wholesale, usually three or four competing quotes, and a named broker from first quote to renewal.
Two figures from Apex’s own placement data, so you have a real anchor before anyone quotes you. Each is the middle half of what clients in that band actually paid, converted to a £1m limit of indemnity.
£1,130–£2,070
a year for £1m of PI cover: an architecture practice billing around £150,000 (Apex placements, n = 128, data extracted 6 September 2026)£1,520–£2,200
a year for £1m of PI cover: an accountancy practice with £500,000 of fees (Apex placements, n = 49, data extracted 6 September 2026)Ranges for every profession and fee band, and what moves a PI premium up or down, are on how much professional indemnity insurance costs. PI underwriters price the profession, fee income, type of work, limit, excess and claims record; where the office is matters far less than what the firm does.
Professional indemnity insurance pays the cost of defending and settling claims alleging that your advice, design or professional service caused a client financial loss. Three things put a Bristol firm in the market for it: you give advice or produce designs that clients rely on; a client contract, framework or lender requires a stated limit; or your professional body sets a minimum. The body minimums, verified at September 2026:
| Body | Minimum limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| SRA (solicitors) | £2m each claim; £3m for recognised and licensed bodies | Minimum Terms and Conditions; 6-year run-off on closure |
| ICAEW (accountants) | £2m, or 2.5× gross fee income with a £250k floor for firms under £800k fees | From 1 September 2024; excess capped at the greater of £3k or 3% of fees |
| ACCA (accountants) | Under £600k fees: greater of 2.5× fees and £100k; £600k and over: £1.5m | From 1 September 2023 |
| RICS (surveyors) | £250k / £500k / £1m by turnover up to £100k / £100–200k / over £200k | Version 11, 1 July 2025; 6-year run-off |
| ARB (architects) | £250k each and every claim | 6-year run-off |
| FCA (advisers and brokers) | €1,300,380 single claim; greater of €1,924,560 and 10% of income in aggregate | MIPRU 3.2.7R; same euro figures under IPRU-INV 13.1.10R |
The minimum is a floor, not a recommendation. The PI minimum limit calculator checks your own body’s figure against your fee income; how much PI insurance you need covers the contract-driven cases. PI is claims-made: the policy in force when the claim is made responds, so the retroactive date and continuous cover matter, and run-off cover is needed when a firm closes.
Each profession has its own page: the body’s minimum terms, the exclusions to watch, the insurers with genuine appetite and the questions underwriters ask.
Bristol pages for the professions where the city has a concentration of firms:
Bristol firms with something non-standard on the record — a claim or a circumstance notified, a CCJ, a lapse in cover, a previous decline, an unusual mix of activities, or a professional-body scheme that has become the only quote you are offered — go to the Apex Non-Standard PI Desk, whose published standard is a straight answer within five working days of our having the documents we ask for. It sits on the same 30-plus markets, including Lloyd’s syndicates via wholesale, so a risk one underwriter dislikes can still be placed properly with another.
Direct is usually fine when you are a sole trader or a very small firm, you want a modest limit, you have no claims or circumstances, no contract specifies a limit or wording, and the insurer’s drop-down list describes your one kind of work accurately.
A broker earns their place when your profession is regulated and the wording has to meet a minimum (SRA, RICS, ICAEW, ARB, FCA), a contract drives the limit, you have a claim, a circumstance or a CCJ, you do several kinds of work or something the drop-down does not describe, or a large renewal increase has arrived with no explanation.
We are not the right broker when:
Bristol has a large professional-services economy: law firms, accountancy practices, architects and engineering consultancies, chartered surveyors, financial advisers, IT consultancies and creative agencies, spread from the old city and the harbourside to Clifton and the wider region. Many are small — a partner and a handful of staff, or a consultant working alone — and buy professional indemnity because a client, a lender or a professional body requires it. The result is a lot of cover bought once, online or through a scheme, and never re-marketed; that is the firm a specialist broker helps most, by presenting the risk properly to insurers that want it.
Our office is at QCS, 53 Queen Charlotte Street, Bristol BS1 4HQ, in the old city close to Queen Square and King Street, so a Bristol firm can sit down with the broker who will handle its cover. Most do not need to: a renewal pack sent by email answers most of an underwriter’s questions in one go.
No. Most PI placements are done by phone and email: you send your current schedule or renewal pack, we take a short fact-find, and quotes come back electronically. The office at QCS, 53 Queen Charlotte Street, Bristol BS1 4HQ is there if you would rather sit down with someone, and you are welcome to; call first so the broker handling your cover is there.
Much the same as anywhere else in the UK: insurers price the profession, fee income, type of work, limit, excess and claims record rather than the city. In Apex’s own placements an architecture practice billing around £150,000 typically paid £1,130 to £2,070 a year for £1m of cover (n = 128) and an accountancy practice with £500,000 of fees paid £1,520 to £2,200 (n = 49). Insurance Premium Tax is charged at 12% on UK general insurance premiums, and the figures may be quoted before or after IPT. Full ranges are on the PI cost page; they are historic ranges, not quotes.
Solicitors, accountants and bookkeepers, architects, chartered and quantity surveyors, civil, structural and consulting engineers, financial advisers and mortgage brokers, IT consultants and contractors, management consultants, designers and marketing agencies, design-and-construct contractors and insurance brokers, among others. If your profession is not listed, ask: the question is whether an insurer has appetite for the work, and with over 30 markets one usually does.
It depends on the body. The SRA requires £2m each claim (£3m for recognised and licensed bodies); ICAEW £2m or 2.5 times fees with a £250k floor for firms under £800k of fees; RICS £250k, £500k or £1m by turnover; ARB £250k each and every claim; and the FCA €1,300,380 per claim for advisers and intermediaries. The minimum limit calculator applies the current rules to your fee income. Client contracts often demand more than the minimum.
A claims-made policy responds to claims first made against you during the policy period, provided the work was done after the policy’s retroactive date. The policy in force when the client complains is the one that pays, so a gap in cover, a retroactive date that does not go back far enough, or closing a firm without run-off can leave years of past work uninsured. When we move a firm we put the new policy in place before the old one lapses and check the retroactive date.
Usually, yes. A decline from one insurer, a notified circumstance, a paid claim or a CCJ is a reason to present the risk properly to the insurers that will consider it, not a reason to stop looking. The Non-Standard PI Desk gives a straight answer within five working days of our having the documents we ask for, and we tell you honestly when a risk cannot be placed on acceptable terms.
No. Apex places professional indemnity for firms across the UK from its Bristol and Weymouth offices; Bristol, Bath, the South West and South Wales are simply where much of the work is. The markets, the fact-find, the quotes and the named broker are the same wherever you are. What we do not do is work for firms outside the UK, or for businesses that are effectively US-domiciled with a UK office.
Call 0117 325 0027, start online, or go straight to the proposal form for your profession. Have your fee income, staff numbers, a description of the work you do and who for, your current schedule if you have one, and any claims or circumstances to hand. Under the Insurance Act 2015 you have a duty of fair presentation; we help you meet it, and a well-presented risk gets better terms than a bare proposal form.
Send your renewal pack or a short description of the firm and a named broker will read it and come back with options set out to compare. Or call 0117 325 0027.
Get a quote Start a PI proposal onlineApex 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. Premium figures shown are historic typical ranges from Apex’s own placements, not quotes.
