Solicitors PI six-year run-off: practical placement guide

Reviewed by Matthew Bartlett, Director · Last reviewed 2026-07-06

When a solicitors firm ceases to hold on the roll of the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the practice does not simply close its doors and walk away from its professional indemnity exposure. The SRA Indemnity Insurance Rules 2020, at Schedule 1 clause 5, require the firm to maintain qualifying insurance for a minimum of six years from the date of cessation. That six-year run-off is a floor, not a ceiling. This entry sets out the practical placement route from a broker's perspective, when the clock actually starts, what to expect on pricing methodology and where the six-year minimum can be materially inadequate.

When the six-year clock starts

The trigger is the date the firm ceases to hold on the SRA roll, not the last day of trading, not the date the last file is closed, and not the date the last partner retires from active work. Where a firm winds down over several months, the SRA-notified cessation date fixes the point from which the six-year period is counted. The current PI policy at cessation is expected to convert into a run-off policy for the balance of the period, and the SRA's Minimum Terms and Conditions continue to bite on that policy for the full six years, including the continuous cover provisions that protect claims arising from work done before cessation.

Two placement approaches

In practice, run-off is placed in one of two ways.

The first, and usually the preferred, route is extended run-off with the incumbent insurer. The insurer already holds the claims history, the risk file and the notification record. Continuity of insurer preserves the continuous cover position under the SRA MTC and removes any argument at claim stage about where notification should have been made. Most placements Apex Insurance Brokers arranges start with a serious conversation with the incumbent well before the intended cessation date.

The second route is open-market run-off placement, sometimes because the incumbent has withdrawn from the solicitors PI market, sometimes because the run-off pricing offered is disproportionate, and sometimes because the firm's claims record makes the incumbent unwilling to continue on acceptable terms. Open-market placement is a smaller universe than the primary market and reduces further where there is a live claim at cessation.

Pricing methodology

Run-off in the solicitors market is generally quoted as a single premium, payable at inception, calculated as a factor of the last active-year premium and reflecting the size of the firm, the mix of work, the claims history and the run-off period. Specific multipliers vary insurer to insurer and year to year, and Apex does not publish figures because they are not a reliable indicator of what any given firm will pay. What matters for planning is that the run-off premium is a material capital call at the point of cessation, and firms that engage a broker early tend to have more room to structure payment against retained cash reserves.

Real-estate practices and the Building Safety Act 2022

The six-year MTC minimum was set with a general professional negligence limitation window in mind. For firms with a residential conveyancing back-book, that window is now demonstrably too short. Section 135 of the Building Safety Act 2022 extended the limitation period under section 1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972 to 30 years retrospectively for defective residential dwellings completed before the Act commenced, and 15 years prospectively. Solicitors who advised on the purchase, sale, lease or structural warranty of residential dwellings during the retrospective window may face notifications many years after cessation. In this scenario the six-year floor is a compliance minimum but not a risk-management answer. Extended run-off periods of 10, 12 or 15 years are worth pricing at cessation, and the calculus is different for a firm whose file mix includes a significant proportion of pre-2015 residential conveyancing work still within the extended DPA limitation window.

Claims experience at cessation

A live claim or a circumstance notified in the final year makes run-off placement harder. Insurers scrutinise the reserve, the counsel's opinion where one exists, and the likelihood of the claim resolving within the current policy year. A broker's job is fair presentation under sections 3 and 4 of the Insurance Act 2015, which at run-off placement means the same duty as at inception: every material circumstance disclosed in a manner reasonably clear and accessible to a prudent insurer. Understating a live matter to secure a better run-off quote is a shortcut to a coverage dispute later.

The insurer of last resort

Where the open market will not place the run-off on any terms, the SRA-authorised run-off arrangement (formerly the Assigned Risks Pool, now delivered through an SRA-authorised run-off insurer of last resort) provides a backstop. Terms are less flexible than open-market placement, cost is generally higher, and the arrangement is intended as a genuine backstop rather than a routine placement channel. The SRA Compensation Fund sits behind the whole framework as the ultimate protection for the client where the firm's cover has failed or is inadequate.

Worked example

Worked example only. Figures and dates illustrative, not a quote. A six-partner high-street firm with a residential conveyancing book intends to cease trading on 30 September 2026. The broker opens run-off conversations with the incumbent insurer in April 2026, giving six months' notice. That runway enables a clean placement with the incumbent, plus one alternative quote for comparison, and time to consider extending the run-off period from the six-year MTC minimum to 10 years given the proportion of pre-2015 conveyancing work still within the extended DPA limitation window under BSA 2022 s.135. Run-off is placed as a single premium, six-year policy, with an option costed to extend to 10 years alongside it.

Related entries: the solicitors PI insurance pillar guide, the general framework for run-off cover planning across professions, an entry on what drives run-off pricing, and the parallel Limitation Act and BSA 2022 position for architects.

Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Firm reference number 724952. This entry is general information, not advice on any particular policy.