Switching PI · Updated 6 September 2026

Outgrown Superscript for professional indemnity? What an independent broker does differently

Superscript sells professional indemnity online with limits you pick and adjust at any time, plus a separate broker service for high-growth technology companies; this page is for firms whose contract, regulator, history or mix of activities now needs more than the online journey is built to give.

Part of: Professional indemnity insurance at Apex

In short

Superscript is an FCA-authorised online insurance business (a trading name of Enro Limited) that sells professional indemnity to “over 1,000 industries”, lets you “tweak your policy at any time with no extra fees”, says its products are “underwritten by Standard & Poor’s A-rated financial strength or higher”, and runs a broker service for high-growth technology companies. It suits start-ups and small businesses whose cover changes during the year. Firms typically look elsewhere when a contract demands 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 and a named insurer. 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 Superscript offers, from its own website

From Superscript’s professional indemnity page and money.co.uk’s Superscript-provided comparison, checked on 6 September 2026:

“Pick the insurance limits you want and tweak your policy at any time with no extra fees”; “Flexibility to adjust your policy without fees”.
“Be quote confident. We’ll beat the price of any like-for-like quote. T&Cs apply.”
“We offer PI cover to over 1,000 industries” — “From videographers to personal trainers, and funeral directors to speech therapists”.
“Our insurance products are underwritten by Standard & Poor’s A-rated financial strength or higher”; the page does not name the underwriters or state a maximum PI limit for the online product.
A separate broker service: “Our specialist brokers provide custom cover for high-growth tech companies with complex risks — from web3, fintech, medtech, blockchain, VC firms, SaaS and more — whether you’re at seed stage or IPO ready.”
No headline price on the PI page. money.co.uk’s PI comparison is “Provided by Superscript” and publishes Superscript customers’ monthly premiums by profession for July–September 2024, from the 10th percentile (software and IT services £10.13; management consultants £11.25) to the 90th (£68.13 and £46.67). Insurance Premium Tax at 12% applies to UK premiums.
Superscript is a trading name of Enro Limited, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority; phone 0333 772 0759.

Who it suits well: start-ups, technology businesses and small firms whose limits, staff numbers and covers change during the year and who value adjusting a policy online without fees.

When firms typically look beyond Superscript

None of these means Superscript 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 bespoke terms. Flexible limits are useful; what a framework, lender or enterprise client often asks for is an unusual indemnity clause, a named additional insured, a specific jurisdiction or costs in addition to the limit, which needs a conversation with an underwriter rather than an online form.
A regulator requires a particular insurer or wording. SRA firms need a participating insurer on the SRA minimum terms; RICS firms a listed insurer on the RICS wording; ICAEW firms a participating insurer; financial advisers FCA-compliant limits. An underwriter’s S&P rating is a floor regulators also use, but it does not make a wording compliant.
A claim, a notified circumstance or a CCJ. With a history, the risk needs explaining to several insurers by someone who has read the file.
Several activities under one roof. Over 1,000 industries is a long list; a firm that is three of them at once needs one wording written to all three.
A sharp premium rise, or no re-market for years. A price-beat promise on a like-for-like quote is only as good as the quotes you have gathered; if no broker has taken the risk to insurers outside the online market, there is nothing to beat.
You want a named person and a named insurer. Superscript states an underwriter rating rather than a name on its PI page. Some firms want to know both from the start.

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 start-ups, technology firms and growing professional businesses 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 Superscript

Stay with Superscript if your business changes shape often enough that adjusting limits online without fees saves real money, your contracts and regulator are satisfied by the wording, your history is clean and the price is fair. For a technology start-up with standard risks, an online policy that flexes, an A-rated underwriter and a specialist broker service for the day the risk becomes complex is a coherent package.

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 Superscript?

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 Superscript I am leaving?

Read your policy documents and any renewal notice from Superscript: 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 Superscript?

We cannot say in advance, because Superscript’s PI page states an underwriter rating rather than a name. Your schedule will name the insurer. Send it to us and we will tell you whether that insurer is a market we can approach and whether it is worth approaching again alongside others; the three or four quotes we return each state the insurer, wording, limit, excess and retroactive date.

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 Superscript schedule and we will tell you where you stand

A named broker checks the insurer, limit, retroactive date and exclusions against your contracts and regulator, then either re-markets the risk 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.