Stay-Put Letter · Free second opinion · UK

The Apex Stay-Put Letter: a free written second opinion on your PI renewal

Most brokers only tell you to move. We will tell you to stay if that is the right answer — in writing, free, and without chasing you afterwards.

Part of: Professional indemnity insurance at Apex

In short

The Apex Stay-Put Letter is a free, no-obligation written second opinion on a professional indemnity renewal. Send us your current schedule, wording and renewal terms; an independent Apex broker checks the limit against what your regulator, your contracts and your largest engagement actually require, reads the exclusions and the retroactive date, looks at the excess and the insurer, and compares the premium with what the wider market would offer. You then get a short letter that says one of two things: stay where you are, and why; or move, and to what. 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 UK 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 we check

Limit. Against your regulator’s minimum, your client contracts and frameworks, and your largest single engagement — not just the number on the schedule.
Wording and exclusions. Fire safety, cyber, contractual liability, intellectual property sub-limits, jurisdiction, regulatory activity — whatever is relevant to your profession.
Retroactive date and continuity. Does the policy reach back to the start of your practice, and has anything lapsed on the way?
Excess. Is it within your body’s cap, and is it sensible for your cash position?
Insurer. Who it is, whether your regulator accepts them, and whether they are likely to be in the market next year.
Premium. Against what the wider market — over 30 insurers including Lloyd’s — would offer for the same firm, properly presented.

What you get

A letter, usually one page, addressed to you and dated. It says either stay put — your cover is right and here is why — or move, with the specific reasons and what we would place instead. Either way it is yours to keep, to show a partner or a board, and to hold us to.

If the answer is stay put, that is the end of it. We do not chase, and we do not send a competing quote you did not ask for.

What it costs, and why we do it

Nothing, and no obligation. We do it because a firm that is well placed and told so remembers who told them, and a firm that is not well placed usually moves. Both are good outcomes for an independent broker. Neither requires us to pretend your current cover is wrong.

Who it is for

Any UK professional firm buying professional indemnity: solicitors, accountants, surveyors, architects, engineers, financial advisers, insurance brokers, IT and management consultants, designers and other consultancies.
Firms whose renewal has been rolled over for years by the same broker and never re-marketed.
Firms whose broker has just been acquired and who want to know whether anything has changed.
Firms that have been quoted a large increase and want to know whether it is the market or the presentation.

How to get one

Send your current schedule, the policy wording and your renewal terms (or last year’s if renewal is months away) to your named Apex broker, or use the form below.
Tell us about anything that has changed: fee income, new services, new contracts, claims or circumstances.
We come back to you with the letter. If we need to ask insurers, we will tell you before we approach anyone.

Frequently asked

Is the stay-put letter really free?

Yes. There is no fee and no obligation to move your cover to Apex. If the answer is that your existing cover is right, that is the answer you get.

Will you approach insurers without asking me?

No. Reviewing your documents does not require approaching the market. If we think a market check would change the answer, we ask you first, and we tell you which insurers we would go to.

What if my current broker finds out?

There is nothing to find out. You are entitled to a second opinion at any time, and we do not contact your broker or your insurer without your instruction.

Can I use the letter with my current broker?

Yes. Firms use it to ask their existing broker to fix a gap we have identified. That is a legitimate use and we would rather the gap were fixed than not.

Does the letter cover other policies as well as PI?

PI is the core. If we spot something obvious on an accompanying policy — cyber, D&O, office — we will say so, but the letter is a PI review unless you ask for more.

Get your stay-put letter

Send us your schedule, wording and renewal terms. A named Apex broker will come back with a short written answer: stay, or move, and why. Or call 0117 325 0027.

Request a stay-put letter → Request a callback

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 about professional indemnity insurance, not advice on your individual circumstances, and it does not guarantee that cover will be available or on what terms.