Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is a Bristol-based broker that arranges professional indemnity (PI) insurance for firms across the United Kingdom. We do not have an office in Swansea — our team works from 53 Queen Charlotte Street, Bristol — but we serve Swansea-based professional firms remotely using secure video meetings, telephone, and encrypted document exchange. Most Swansea clients handle their placement, renewal and any claims notifications entirely at distance.
We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA firm reference 724952). FCA permissions apply UK-wide, so we are able to advise and arrange cover for firms based in Swansea on the same terms as we do for firms in England.
A note on jurisdiction. Wales shares its legal system with England — the jurisdiction is "England and Wales" — so the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) regulates Welsh-based solicitors on the same terms as English ones, and the SRA Minimum Terms and Conditions for PI apply unchanged. There is no separate Welsh solicitors' regulator or master policy arrangement. Welsh devolution does affect a number of policy areas — including NHS Wales, education, housing and planning — which can in turn affect work done by surveyors, architects and consultancies for Welsh public bodies. Welsh-language client preference is also a relevant service-delivery consideration: Apex provides services in English.
Swansea's professional services sector
Swansea is Wales's second city and the focal point of the Swansea Bay City Region. The local economy has been shaped — and is being reshaped — by heavy industry, higher education, and a substantial public-sector employment base.
The most significant industrial story is the transition at the Tata Steel UK site at Port Talbot, just east of Swansea. The move from blast furnace steelmaking to electric arc furnace production is one of the largest industrial transitions in the UK and is generating substantial work for engineering consultancies, project managers, environmental advisers, and specialist contractors. The professional services demand around the transition extends well beyond the steelworks itself, touching the wider supply chain across Swansea Bay.
Swansea University is a top-tier research institution with particular strengths in engineering, computing and life sciences. The Bay Campus on the coast has expanded the university's research and consultancy footprint, and the Swansea Bay Life Science Hub supports a growing cluster of life-science businesses and consultancies.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is headquartered at Morriston in Swansea and is one of the city's largest employers. Pobl Group, one of Wales's larger housing associations, also has a substantial Swansea presence. The presence of the INEOS / Petroineos refinery and related petrochemical infrastructure further west adds to the engineering consultancy demand in the area.
The local legal market is smaller than Cardiff's but well-established. Hugh James — headquartered in Cardiff but reaching across South Wales including Swansea — Douglas-Jones Mercer, JCP Solicitors, and a network of independent practices serve the local business community, with workloads spanning commercial property, employment, personal injury, and private client work. Accountancy is served by Big Four regional offices and by a network of independent and regional chartered accountancy practices. Architecture and surveying firms in Swansea serve the university's continued expansion, the Tata Steel transition, housing-association development, and the wider South Wales property market.
PI insurance for Swansea-based professional firms
The most distinctive PI feature of the Swansea market is engineering consultancy work supporting industrial transition — the Tata Steel site, the wider petrochemical and refining infrastructure, and the energy and decarbonisation projects that the Welsh Government is supporting through the Swansea Bay City Region framework. Engineering consultancy contracts in this space frequently involve significant contract values, complex indemnity clauses, intellectual property questions, and contractual limitations of liability that need to be read against the policy carefully. We spend time with engineering consultancy clients on how their PI cover responds to consequential loss exclusions, fitness-for-purpose wording, and aggregate-limit structure where the work involves single very high-value projects.
For life-science consultancies linked to Swansea University and the Swansea Bay Life Science Hub, the PI conversation often involves the boundary between advice and product or design responsibility, intellectual property treatment, and cover for advice given internationally.
For solicitors in Swansea, PI sits under the SRA Minimum Terms and Conditions on the same basis as for an English firm. We work with practices on participating insurer selection, on run-off planning at retirement or sale, and on the practical aspects of notifying a circumstance to the insurer.
For surveyors, RICS Minimum Terms apply UK-wide. Welsh devolution affects planning policy, housing policy and parts of the regulatory landscape that surveyors operate within, but the PI policy itself is placed on the same RICS-compliant basis as anywhere else in the UK. We discuss with surveying clients how reliance, scope and disclaimers should be drafted where the underlying advice relates to Welsh policy frameworks.
For architects, similar considerations apply — particularly where projects involve Welsh public-sector clients (NHS Wales, local authorities, social housing) whose contractual frameworks differ in detail from English equivalents.
Welsh-language client preference is a service-delivery consideration. Some clients — particularly those working with public bodies under the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 — prefer Welsh-language correspondence. Apex provides services in English. This is a service-delivery matter rather than a PI regulatory issue; the PI policy itself is placed on a UK-standard basis.
How Apex serves Swansea firms
A typical engagement begins with a discovery call. We ask about the work the firm does, the contracts it signs, claims history, headcount, fee income and any specific concerns. We approach a panel of insurers we believe are well-suited to the risk and we present terms in writing with a clear comparison.
You do not need to travel to Bristol. Renewals, mid-term adjustments and claims notifications are handled by telephone, secure email and video call. We respond to Swansea clients during normal UK business hours and we use UK-based insurers and claims handlers.
Frequently asked questions
Do you have an office in Swansea?
No. Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is based in Bristol at 53 Queen Charlotte Street, BS1 4HQ. We serve Swansea-based professional firms remotely.
Are you authorised to advise Swansea firms?
Yes. We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA firm reference 724952). FCA permissions apply throughout the United Kingdom, including Wales.
Do you understand engineering consultancy PI for industrial transition work?
Yes. The Tata Steel Port Talbot transition and the wider South Wales industrial economy generate substantial engineering consultancy demand. We discuss with consultancy clients how contract terms — indemnity wording, consequential loss exclusions and fitness-for-purpose clauses — interact with the PI policy, and how aggregate limits should be structured where projects are very high value.
Can you place cover for life-science consultancies linked to Swansea University and the Life Science Hub?
Yes. We discuss intellectual property treatment, international advice cover, and contractual limitations of liability with life-science consultancy clients.
How are claims handled if we are in Swansea?
Claims and circumstances are notified to the insurer in writing as soon as the firm becomes aware of them. We help draft the notification, liaise with the insurer's claims team, and stay involved through to resolution — by telephone, email and secure document exchange.
Does Welsh devolution affect PI requirements for Swansea firms?
The legal system is shared with England — the jurisdiction is "England and Wales" — and the SRA Minimum Terms and Conditions apply unchanged. Welsh devolution affects some policy areas (NHS Wales, education, housing, planning), which can affect the substantive work done by surveyors, architects and consultancies for Welsh public bodies, but it does not change the PI regulatory framework. Welsh-language client preference is a service-delivery matter rather than a PI regulatory issue. Apex provides services in English.
Do you place PI for surveyors and architects working with Welsh public bodies?
Yes. RICS Minimum Terms and architects' PI cover are placed on the same UK-wide basis. We discuss with clients how reliance, scope and disclaimers should be drafted where the underlying advice or design work relates to Welsh policy frameworks — for example NHS Wales contracts, Welsh local-authority schemes, or social housing development.
Speak to Apex about your PI cover
If you run a professional firm in Swansea and you would like to talk through your PI cover — whether that is a first-time placement, a renewal review, or a specific concern about a contract term or a claim — we are happy to have a conversation.
- Telephone: 0117 325 0027
- Email: info@apexinsurancebrokers.co.uk
- Post: Apex Insurance Brokers Limited, 53 Queen Charlotte Street, Bristol, BS1 4HQ
Related pages: Professional Indemnity Insurance · Engineers · Solicitors · Accountants · Architects · Surveyors · About Apex · Contact
About Apex Insurance Brokers — Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, FCA firm reference 724952. Registered in England and Wales, Companies House 07014570. Registered office: 53 Queen Charlotte Street, Bristol, BS1 4HQ. Last reviewed: May 2026.