Reviewed by Matthew Bartlett, Director · Last reviewed 8 July 2026
If a commercial client has raised a claim over a placement, a coverage gap that surfaced on a claim, an alleged failure to advise on a material extension, or a DISP complaint from a consumer client that could develop, this entry sets out how a UK insurance broker should think about the next 24 to 48 hours. It covers notification under the claims-made wording, why timing is critical, what the FCA expects in parallel, and what your PI broker does at this point. Read it once, then pick up the phone.
Brokers' PI is written on a claims-made basis. The wording responds to claims and notified circumstances arising during the period of insurance, not to matters that arose during it but were never told to the insurer. Section 3 of the Insurance Act 2015 imposes the duty of fair presentation at inception, renewal and any material variation; section 13A gives the insured a route where an insurer has breached the implied term to pay claims within a reasonable time. Late notification is one of the largest single technical reasons claims run into difficulty at coverage stage — a fact broker principals know from the client side. Notifying a circumstance does not commit you to admitting anything — it preserves the year's cover you have already paid for.
A claim under a broker's PI wording does not have to be a court proceeding. It can be a letter from a commercial client whose own claim has been declined, an email from a client's solicitor alleging a failure to place adequate cover, a DISP complaint from an eligible complainant, a subrogated recovery action from a client's insurer, a Financial Ombudsman Service notification, or an internal note that a compliance oversight function or SMF holder would read as something that might turn into a claim. The wording standard is that a fact, matter, event or circumstance which may reasonably be expected to give rise to a claim must be notified. The test is objective. Once someone senior has identified it, the practical clock has started.
The FCA regulates general insurance intermediation. ICOBS sets the customer-facing conduct rules — the demands-and-needs statement, the IPID, remuneration and conflicts disclosure, the fair presentation support duty on commercial risks. COBS applies where the intermediary is also involved in advised investment business. DISP sets the complaint-handling rules: acknowledge within five business days under DISP 1.6.1R, final response within eight weeks under DISP 1.6.2R, and refer eligible complainants to the Financial Ombudsman Service. MIPRU 3 sets the minimum PI requirement for intermediaries. SUP 15 governs supervisory notifications where the matter is likely to be of material significance to the FCA. The Consumer Duty (PRIN 2A) has raised the bar on avoidance of foreseeable harm and on the four outcomes — product-and-service, price-and-value, consumer understanding and consumer support — and complaints that engage Consumer Duty considerations will be scrutinised across the FOS and the FCA supervisory lens. Where a placement failure has caused a client's claim to be declined, the client's underlying insurer position and the broker's PI position are both live.
Do not respond to the client, the client's solicitor or the FOS on substance until you have notified your PI broker. Preserve every version of the market submission, the placing slip, the quotes received, the client meeting notes, the demands-and-needs statement, the IPID and the recorded calls. Do not backfill notes or annotate the file after the event. Do not admit liability, offer a fee waiver or a placement subsidy that reads as an admission, or float a settlement figure in correspondence. Notify your PI broker straightaway; the broker handles the notification to the insurer in the form the wording requires and manages what happens next. The DISP acknowledgement and eight-week response obligations continue in parallel and must be met. Where the matter meets the SUP 15.3.1R threshold, that supervisory notification is a separate track and must be handled properly.
A named broker who has run intermediary PI notifications before will take the summary from you, prepare and submit the notification to the insurer in the form the wording requires, protect your position on scope and late-notification questions, and manage the appointment of defence solicitors from the insurer's approved panel. From there the broker deals with any reservation of rights letter, the reserve conversation, coverage arguments around advice-versus-arrangement scope, aggregation across a portfolio of client placements, and the interplay with any client-side complaint or FOS matter running in parallel. Apex is a broker, not an insurer or a defence firm; the broker handles the notification and manages the process with the insurer's appointed defence panel. This is the technical work where broker experience earns its keep — and where broker principals appreciate the value of a specialist adviser most acutely.
Not because Apex clients never have claims. Intermediary PI is a long-tail exposure by design, and the FCA regulatory perimeter around advice, disclosure and complaint handling is only growing. Apex clients renew because when a matter arose, the notification was made properly, the year's cover attached, and the firm reached the next renewal in a position to place terms on the merits rather than under a cloud.
Notification urgent?
If a matter has just arisen, call now. Late notification is one of the largest single reasons claims get declined. A named broker will pick up the phone and start the notification with you.