FCA authorised · FRN 7249520117 325 0027Quote & buy →
PI quote · UK professional firms · Updated September 2026
What happens when you ask Apex for a PI quote, what we need from you, what firms like yours paid, and when an online policy would serve you better.
Part of: Professional indemnity insurance at Apex
In short
A professional indemnity insurance quote from Apex Insurance Brokers starts with a short fact-find with a named broker, not a 40-question form. We present your firm to the market — we have access to over 30 insurers, including Lloyd’s syndicates via wholesale — and usually return three or four competing quotes set out side by side: limit, excess, retroactive date, exclusions and premium. There is no fee for a quote and no obligation to buy. It suits any UK firm that gives advice, designs or professional services, particularly regulated professions, firms whose contracts demand a specific limit, and anyone with a claim, a CCJ or unusual activities that an online form would decline. Apex is an independent, director-owned broker in Bristol, established in 2009 and directly authorised by the FCA since 2016.
Each page covers what insurers look at in that profession and any regulator’s minimum.
Under the Insurance Act 2015 you have a duty of fair presentation: to disclose every material circumstance you know or ought to know, clearly. Having these six things ready meets most of that duty.
From Apex’s own recent PI placements — around 940 policies after outlier removal, data extracted 6 September 2026 — showing the middle half of what clients paid, converted to a £1 million limit. Ranges, not quotes.
£1,130–£2,070
Architect, around £150,000 of fees, £1m limit, per year (n = 128)£1,520–£2,200
Accountancy practice, £500,000 of fees, £1m limit, per year (n = 49)In Apex’s recent placements, an architect billing around £150,000 a year typically paid between £1,130 and £2,070 a year for £1m of professional indemnity cover (n = 128). An accountancy practice with £500,000 of fees typically paid £1,520 to £2,200 a year for £1m of PI cover — an architecture practice of the same size paid roughly twice as much (1.85 to 2.63 times), at £2,810 to £5,780 (n = 49 and n = 139).
Insurance Premium Tax is charged at 12% on general insurance premiums; when you compare figures from different sources, check whether each is shown before or after IPT. The full tables by profession, fee band and limit, with the method, are on what professional indemnity insurance costs.
Sometimes an online policy from a direct insurer is the right buy, and we would rather say so than waste your time.
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.
About the “from £6 a month” prices. Read the footnote. AXA advertises PI “from just £6 a month” — “10% of our customers paid this or less between April and June 2026” (axa.co.uk, checked 6 September 2026). Markel Direct’s “from £8 a month” is “based on an IT contractor requiring £50,000 of professional indemnity insurance” (markeluk.com, no period stated, checked 6 September 2026). The headline is the lowest-priced tenth of customers, or a £50,000 limit — not a typical premium for a firm with staff, a regulator and a £1 million limit.
A non-standard risk — a CCJ, a claim, a decline — goes to the Apex Non-Standard PI Desk: a straight answer, yes, no or the terms, within five working days of our having the documents we ask for.
It depends on the risk. A clean firm with the six items above ready can be presented to insurers straight away; one with claims, a CCJ or unusual activities needs a written presentation to several markets and takes longer. We say at the start what to expect and work back from your renewal date; for non-standard cases the Desk’s published standard is an answer within five working days of our having the documents we ask for.
Your current schedule if you have one, last year’s fee income split by activity, an estimate for this year, staff numbers, any claims or circumstances in the last six years, and any contract or professional-body requirement that fixes the limit or wording. A copy of your existing proposal form helps.
Only with your agreement. Before we go to market we tell you which insurers we intend to approach, and if your current insurer is one of them we say so; we do not contact your existing broker or insurer without your instruction. If your existing cover is right, we say so in writing — the stay-put letter, free and without obligation.
Yes. A claim, a circumstance, a county court judgment or a previous decline changes which insurers we approach and how the risk is presented; it does not end the conversation. Those cases go to the Non-Standard PI Desk. Disclose everything: under the Insurance Act 2015 an undisclosed matter puts the whole policy at risk, whereas a disclosed one is simply priced.
No. There is no fee for a quote and no obligation to buy. If a separate broker fee ever applies to a policy we arrange, we tell you the amount before you commit, and you can ask at any time for a full breakdown of how we are paid.
Apex is not an instant quote-and-buy engine: we present your firm to insurers and bring terms back, and the insurer sets the pace. If you have a contract to sign or a renewal in days, ring us first and say so. If you need a policy bound in the next hour, a direct insurer’s online product is the right tool.
Start from any minimum that applies: SRA firms £2m each claim (£3m for LLPs and companies); ICAEW firms £2m, or 2.5 times gross fee income with a £250,000 floor for firms under £800,000 of fees; RICS firms £250,000, £500,000 or £1m by turnover; ARB-registered architects £250,000 each and every claim; FCA-regulated advisers and brokers the MIPRU and IPRU-INV euro figures. Then check your contracts.
Yes. Contracts in IT, consultancy and design often ask for both, and one presentation can go to insurers that write both lines. The quotes may come from one insurer or two; we set them out either way, with the boundary explained — PI responds to a client’s claim about your work, cyber to your own incident.
Yes. Once cover is bound your named broker issues evidence of cover for a client, framework or lender — insurer, limit, basis, policy period and retroactive date — and deals with the follow-up questions. If the contract specifies a limit or a wording, tell us before we go to market so the quotes are on the right basis.
Yes. Insurers rate a new practice on projected fee income, the work you intend to do and the principals’ prior experience rather than on trading history, so tell us at the start that the practice is new. If you did work before you incorporated, tell us, so the retroactive date can pick it up.
Pick your profession on the quote page, or start the proposal form now. A named broker reads every submission. Or call 0117 325 0027.
Get a PI quote Start the proposal formApex 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.
