Switching PI · Updated 6 September 2026

Outgrown Simply Business for professional indemnity? What an independent broker does differently

Simply Business prices professional indemnity from a panel of seven named insurers in one online journey, with limits from £50,000 to £5 million, and for over a million customers that is the right tool; this page is for firms whose contract, regulator, history or size has moved past what that journey is built for.

Part of: Professional indemnity insurance at Apex

In short

Simply Business is an FCA-regulated online broker (a trading name of Xbridge Limited) that quotes professional indemnity from a panel it names as Allianz, AIG, AXA, Churchill, Covea, Hiscox and Zurich, with limits “between £50,000 and £5 million, depending on your business type” and prices “from £6.90 per month” on its stated basis. It suits sole traders, partnerships and small companies in standard trades. Firms typically look elsewhere when a contract demands more than £5 million or bespoke terms, a regulator requires a particular insurer or wording, there has been a claim, circumstance or CCJ, the business does several different things, the premium has risen sharply, or they want a named person. Apex Insurance Brokers is an independent, director-owned PI specialist with access to over 30 markets including Lloyd’s, usually returning three or four competing quotes.

What Simply Business offers, from its own website

From Simply Business’s professional indemnity page, checked on 6 September 2026:

“Professional indemnity insurance quotes from £6.90 per month”, footnoted “The price is for up to £1 million of professional indemnity insurance – 10% of customers paid £82.75 or less annually between 1st Jan – 30th Jun 2026. Equivalent to £6.90 a month (and excludes the extra costs for paying monthly).” Insurance Premium Tax at 12% applies to UK premiums.
Limits: “we offer between £50,000 and £5 million, depending on your business type”.
Insurers shown: Allianz, AIG, AXA, Churchill, Covea, Hiscox and Zurich. Both published example quotes are Hiscox policies: a sole-trader software developer at £8.05 a month for £250,000 of PI, and a two-employee photography company at £34.39 a month.
Scale and service: “Join over a million customers (including 606,000 SMEs like you)”, “£57 million in claims paid out in 2025” (a figure it says is rounded across its product range), “Rated 4.5/5 based on 40k reviews”, “UK-based expert support, online and on the phone”. Cover for “sole traders, partnerships and limited companies”; the journey starts with a trade selector.
The same journey runs Compare the Market’s and MoneySuperMarket’s PI comparisons: Compare the Market’s PI page carries a “Provided by Simply Business” mark and says its phone lines “are operated by our trusted partner, Simply Business”; MoneySuperMarket says it “has a commercial partnership with Simply Business”.
Phone 0333 0146 683; Xbridge Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Who it suits well: sole traders, partnerships and small limited companies in standard trades who want several insurers priced in one sitting and documents the same day.

When firms typically look beyond Simply Business

None of these means Simply Business has done anything wrong. They are the points at which a firm’s needs move past what an online journey is built for.

A contract demands more than £5 million, or bespoke terms. Simply Business states its PI limits run “between £50,000 and £5 million”. Frameworks, lenders and larger clients asking for more, for an unusual indemnity clause or for a named additional insured need an underwriter, and often a second layer of cover.
A regulator requires a particular insurer or wording. SRA firms need a participating insurer on the SRA minimum terms (most are broker-only); RICS firms a listed insurer on the RICS wording; ICAEW firms a participating insurer; financial advisers FCA-compliant limits. Check the policy against the regulator’s wording rather than assuming.
A claim, a notified circumstance or a CCJ. An online panel gives one answer per insurer. With a history, you want the risk explained to underwriters by someone who has read the file.
Several activities under one roof. The journey begins with a trade selector. A firm that is three trades at once, or none of them exactly, needs a wording written to what it actually does.
A sharp premium rise, or no re-market for years. A panel is not the market. If the same seven insurers have priced your renewal every year, the insurers outside that panel have never seen it.
You want a named person. Simply Business offers UK-based phone and online support. Some firms want one individual who knows the file from quote to renewal to claim.

What changes with an independent specialist

Apex Insurance Brokers is an independent insurance broker established in 2009 and based in Bristol, owned entirely by its directors and directly authorised by the FCA since 2016, placing professional indemnity insurance for sole traders, small companies and growing professional firms across the UK. It is one of the longest-established independently owned professional indemnity specialists in the UK, and it is not for sale: we have declined approaches to buy the firm. We are not tied to any single insurer or professional-body scheme, we do not run our own policy or underwriting, and we have no placement quotas. We have access to over 30 markets, including Lloyd’s syndicates via wholesale, and we usually return three or four competing quotes set out so you can compare them like for like. Every client has a named broker — the same person from first quote to renewal — and every claim notification gets director-level attention rather than a call-centre queue.

What that means in practice:

Owned by its directors, not for sale. No consolidator, no private-equity owner, no external shareholders — and we have declined approaches to buy the firm. Read the Apex Independence Charter.
Independent, not tied. No single-insurer scheme, no in-house policy, no placement quotas — the recommendation is the one that fits, not the one we are paid to push.
Over 30 markets, including Lloyd’s. Specialist UK PI insurers and Lloyd’s syndicates via wholesale, so a risk that one underwriter dislikes can still be placed properly with another.
Usually three or four competing quotes, laid out side by side — limit, excess, retroactive date, exclusions and premium — with a plain-language note on the trade-offs.
The stay-put letter. If your existing cover is right, we say so in writing, free and without obligation. How the stay-put letter works.
A named broker all year. The person who places your cover is the person who picks up the phone at renewal, on a mid-term change, or when a letter of claim lands.
Director-level attention on claims. We help you notify circumstances early and in the right form, stay involved once the insurer’s panel solicitors are appointed, and tell you plainly where you stand.
Directly authorised by the FCA since 2016, not an appointed representative trading under someone else’s permissions.

How a placement runs:

A short fact-find, not a 40-question form. We ask about your work as a professional firm: what you do, who for, fee income, staff, contracts, claims and anything unusual.
A written presentation to insurers. 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.
Quotes set out to compare. Usually three or four, with limits, excesses, retroactive dates, exclusions and premium side by side, and our recommendation in plain English.
No gap in cover. If you are moving from another broker, insurer or scheme, we put the new policy in place before the old one lapses and check the retroactive date protects your past work.
The same person afterwards. Mid-term changes, contract queries, certificates for clients, circumstance notifications and next year’s renewal all go through your named broker.

How to move without a gap in cover

Professional indemnity is claims-made: the policy in force on the day a claim is made responds, and only for work done after its retroactive date. Moving insurer is safe if these things happen in order.

Notify known circumstances first. Anything you already know about that could lead to a claim belongs with the outgoing insurer; a new policy will exclude it (Hiscox’s PI page, for one, excludes “Anything you knew, or should reasonably have known, before taking out your policy that would likely lead to a claim or a loss”).
Carry the retroactive date across. The new schedule must show a retroactive date no later than the one you hold now, ideally the date you first held continuous cover; otherwise work done in between is uninsured.
No lapse. The new policy goes on risk before the old one ends: at renewal, terms bound before expiry; mid-term, the old policy cancelled under its own terms only once the replacement is in force.
Make a fair presentation. Under the Insurance Act 2015 you must disclose every material circumstance you know or ought to know; a written presentation is how a broker earns better terms than a form.
Plan for run-off. If you later close or merge, run-off cover keeps past work insured; ask how the new insurer prices it before you move.

When to stay with Simply Business

Stay with Simply Business if your trade fits its selector, your limit is within £5 million, your history is clean and the renewal price is fair for the risk. A panel of seven named insurers, same-day documents and a published claims record are real advantages for a standard small business, and a specialist broker adds a conversation that a straightforward risk does not need.

If your existing cover is right, we say so in a stay-put letter, free and without obligation.

Related Apex pages

Sources checked 6 September 2026

Frequently asked

Is it cheaper to buy PI through a broker than from Simply Business?

Sometimes, and sometimes not; anyone who promises otherwise has not seen your risk. A broker’s value is in reaching insurers that do not sell online, presenting the risk properly, and showing three or four quotes with limits, excesses, retroactive dates and exclusions side by side. Where the online policy is the best fit at the best price, we tell you so in writing.

Will my premium go up if I move?

Not because you moved. Premium follows the risk: activities, fee income, limit, excess, claims history and the insurer’s appetite. A firm that has outgrown an online product has usually grown, taken on bigger contracts or acquired a history, and that, not the change of channel, moves the price. Insurance Premium Tax at 12% applies to any premium, whoever arranges it.

Can I keep my retroactive date?

Yes, and you must. The new policy’s retroactive date should be no later than the one on your current schedule, so that every piece of work done since you first held continuous cover stays insured. We check the new schedule against your existing one before anything is bound, and we will not place a policy that shortens it without telling you plainly what that means.

Do I need to tell Simply Business I am leaving?

Read your policy documents and any renewal notice from Simply Business: they set out what happens at expiry and on cancellation, including any refund on a mid-term cancellation. Before you leave, notify the outgoing insurer of any circumstance you are aware of that could become a claim, because a new policy will exclude it. We prepare that notification with you as part of the move.

Can I switch mid-term or only at renewal?

Either. Renewal is simplest because the old policy ends naturally. Mid-term works where there is a reason, such as a contract that demands a higher limit or a wording your current policy cannot provide; the new policy goes on risk first and the old one is then cancelled under its own terms, which may or may not return premium. Nothing is cancelled until the replacement is bound.

Will Apex quote the same insurer as Simply Business?

Possibly. Simply Business shows Allianz, AIG, AXA, Churchill, Covea, Hiscox and Zurich on its PI page, and several of those insurers also write PI through independent brokers; Apex’s own comparison pages cover Hiscox, AXA, Zurich and Aviva among others. The terms an insurer offers through one distributor are not automatically the terms it offers through another, so we compare the wording and the price in front of us, not the logo, and we do not promise any particular insurer.

What if I have had a claim, a circumstance or a CCJ?

Say so at the start. Our Non-Standard PI Desk deals with claims, notified circumstances, CCJs, declines and regulator findings and gives one of three answers within five working days of having the documents: yes with indicative terms, yes with restrictions explained, or no with the reasons and what would change them.

How long does a move take?

It depends on the risk and on how close you are to renewal. A firm with its last schedule, a claims summary and fee figures to hand can usually be presented to insurers quickly; regulated or non-standard risks take longer because insurers ask more. We publish no turnaround promise for standard risks; for non-standard ones the desk commits to five working days.

Send us your Simply Business schedule and we will tell you where you stand

A named broker checks the limit, retroactive date and exclusions against your contracts and regulator, then either takes the risk to the wider market or tells you in writing to stay put. Or call 0117 325 0027.

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Apex 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. Statements about other providers were taken from those providers’ own websites on 6 September 2026 and may have changed since; any prices are the starting prices they publish, on the basis they state, not typical premiums and not quotes. Provider names are the trade marks of their owners and are used only to identify them; no provider named has endorsed this page. Apex publishes no premium figures of its own on this page.