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Proposal form guides
What each section of our engineers' professional indemnity proposal form asks, why underwriters ask it, and where answers tend to go wrong.
Part of: Professional indemnity insurance at Apex
In short
Apex's online proposal form for engineers runs in nine sections, covering the firm and its people, the split of fees by discipline and project type, turnover by territory, largest projects, contract and risk management, pollution and asbestos, insurance history and the cover required. Under the Insurance Act 2015 the completed form is the core of the firm's fair presentation, so answers must be accurate and complete, and anything material the form does not ask about still has to be disclosed. The answers that matter most are the discipline split, the contract terms you accept, the pollution and asbestos questions and the circumstances question.
For a business insurance contract, the proposal form is the main vehicle for the duty of fair presentation under the Insurance Act 2015. Section 3 requires the firm to disclose every material circumstance it knows or ought to know, or enough to put the underwriter on notice to ask more, in a way that is reasonably clear and accessible. A truthful but narrow answer to a narrow question is not necessarily a fair presentation.
What the firm "knows" includes what its senior management and the people arranging the insurance know, and what a reasonable search would reveal. In practice that means asking every principal and project lead before answering, not just the person filling in the form.
Have to hand:
Our page on why the proposal form matters covers the general principle, and the engineers PI insurance guide covers the cover itself.
Expect the full trading name of the firm or firms, including predecessors and all subsidiaries to be insured; the date established; the principal office; any subsidiary or trading-style names and their countries; any branch offices, with the principal responsible and whether they are based there; and whether cover is needed for any principal in respect of a former firm.
What the underwriter is establishing: who is being insured and how the work is supervised. The entities on the schedule need to match those that sign appointments. A subsidiary registered abroad signals overseas exposure. A branch office whose responsible principal works elsewhere raises a supervision question, which is why the form asks.
The predecessor question exists because PI is written on a claims-made basis. Liability follows the work, so a principal's former firm can bring exposure with it. Give the firm's name, the dates and the type of work done there.
The form asks you to list every principal, partner and director (anyone with ownership or significant decision-making responsibility), then give headcounts for this year and last year across four groups: principals, qualified technical staff, other technical staff and admin staff.
Two years are asked for because the trend matters. Rapid growth can stretch supervision and checking; a fall in qualified staff can mean key people have left mid-project. The ratio of qualified to unqualified technical staff shows how much design work is done under supervision.
Count consistently between the two years. If you rely on long-term freelancers working under your name, say how you have counted them.
You split last year's fees by discipline, in whole percentages totalling exactly 100%, and then by project type. Some disciplines and project types are marked with an asterisk because they attract closer underwriter scrutiny. You are then asked whether the split is representative of the previous three years, whether you expect it to change substantially in the next 12 months, whether the firm has been in a consortium or joint venture that needs cover under this policy, and whether you use independent sub-consultants, for what and how you select and manage them.
The discipline split drives the rating more than the total fee figure does. The common mistake is folding higher-risk work into a broader heading so that it does not sit against an asterisk. That is a misrepresentation, not a simplification. Be candid, and expect follow-up questions.
Joint ventures need care: the policy may or may not respond to the firm's share of a JV's liability, and the JV may need its own cover. See PI insurance for professional joint ventures. Where you keep responsibility for a sub-consultant's work, your policy faces the claim if they are uninsured, so explain how you check their PI.
The form asks for turnover by year and territory for the last five completed years plus an estimate for the year ahead; project-by-project details of any overseas work (territory, applicable law and jurisdiction, contract value, client, fees and dates); total certified building values in the past 12 months; your five largest projects with construction started in the last six years; and the three largest due to start in the coming year.
Turnover shows how busy you are; construction values show how large a claim could be. A small practice with one very large project carries an exposure its fee income does not reveal.
Two further questions look for early warning signs: whether all current projects are running on time and within budget, and whether any fees are more than 30 days past your usual terms. Delays, overruns and withheld fees are often where disputes start, and chasing an unpaid fee can prompt a counterclaim alleging negligence. Give details rather than a bare yes or no.
This section asks how the firm is run: regular principal meetings with reports on all current projects; whether you always use standard written conditions that set out the scope of service; what share of contracts are non-standard and how they are signed off; whether your standard conditions exclude pollution or contamination liability; whether collateral warranties are always in a standard format (such as BPF or JCT); and, if not, whether they exclude fitness for purpose, restrict the period to 12 years or less and limit the standard of care to reasonable skill and care.
These contract answers carry real weight. An obligation to achieve a result, rather than to use reasonable skill and care, is typically outside PI cover. See fitness for purpose vs reasonable skill and care. Twelve years is the limitation period for a contract executed as a deed, so a longer period extends your exposure beyond it. Our page on collateral warranties and PI covers the detail.
The form also asks whether clients always sign, whether contracts are reviewed during the job, whether you give advice outside the contracted scope and, if so, whether you amend the scope; and whether you have written risk management procedures, quality assurance systems, continuing training and systems for critical dates. Advice given informally outside the agreed scope is a familiar source of disputes. Answer for how the firm actually works, not for what the procedures manual says.
A list of yes/no questions covers environmental assessment or monitoring; surveying or valuing landfill sites or property known to be polluted; designing or supervising remediation; managing polluted property; waste disposal, treatment or management; air emission control; industrial piping or process systems; underground storage; hazardous chemicals; and asbestos work, including work under the asbestos regulations, advice on asbestos-containing material, and acting as the duty holder.
PI policies commonly exclude or restrict pollution and asbestos claims, so the underwriter needs to know whether your work brings you within those terms. See the pollution exclusion and the asbestos exclusion. The form refers to the 2002 regulations; these have since been replaced by the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, so answer yes if you have done relevant work under either.
The common mistake is answering no because the work was a small part of a larger job, such as specifying structural works in a building with known asbestos. Answer yes and give brief details. We will come back with a supplementary questionnaire if one is needed.
You give your current insurer, limit, excess, premium and renewal date, then answer three questions: claims ever made against the firm, its predecessors or any present or former principal, including those settled, denied or never paid; circumstances, after full enquiry, that may give rise to a claim; and any PI application declined, cancelled, refused renewal or accepted on special terms.
The circumstances question most often causes trouble. It covers any project where a client has complained or threatened action, and any problem you think could later become a claim: a contractor querying your design, an unresolved defect, a client who has stopped paying. "After full enquiry" means asking every principal and project lead, in writing, and keeping the replies. If a circumstance exists, it usually belongs with your current insurer as a notification before expiry. See circumstance notification explained.
You choose a limit of indemnity, state any preference on excess and give the start date.
The limit should reflect the largest claim you could realistically face and any figure your clients require. Appointments and warranties often require a stated limit to be maintained for a period after the work is finished, so check your contracts before choosing. Check whether the limit is any one claim or in the aggregate, and whether defence costs sit inside or outside it. A higher excess usually lowers the premium, but the firm pays it on each claim.
This form has no free-text box for other information. If something material is not covered by any question, send it to us in writing with the form.
You give your full name and position in the firm. The person submitting is confirming, for the firm, that the answers are true and complete and that nothing material has been withheld, so read the declaration first. The duty continues until cover starts: if anything changes in the meantime, tell us before inception.
Not necessarily. Section 3 of the Insurance Act 2015 requires disclosure of every material circumstance the firm knows or ought to know, or enough to put a prudent insurer on notice to ask more. If something material does not fit any question, it still needs disclosing in writing.
Because delay, overspend and unpaid fees are often the first signs of a dispute. The underwriter is looking for problems before they become claims, and a candid answer with context is far better than one that later turns out to be wrong.
Yes. The questions ask whether you have done the work at all, not whether it was significant. Give brief details and the underwriter will decide whether a supplementary questionnaire is needed.
Because a warranty that runs longer than 12 years extends the firm's exposure beyond the limitation period for a contract executed as a deed. Underwriters want to know whether you accept that.
Notify it to your current insurer before the policy expires, not just disclose it to the next one. PI is claims-made, and a circumstance validly notified under the expiring policy is generally dealt with under that policy. Then disclose it on the proposal form as well.
Start your proposal online and save it as you go, or upload a completed proposal from your current broker on the first page. Or call 0117 325 0027.
Start your proposal Request a callbackApex 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. It explains the kinds of question asked and does not reproduce any insurer's form or guarantee that cover will be available or on what terms.
