Reviewed by Matthew Bartlett, Director · Last reviewed 8 July 2026
Changing broker mid-cycle or at renewal is a decision most regulated firms think about at least once. The question is rarely whether to move but how to move without opening a gap in cover, disturbing a pending notification, or losing the audit trail your regulator expects you to keep. This entry walks through when switching makes sense, how to do it cleanly under the Insurance Act 2015, and what your incoming broker should be asking for on day one.
Firms consider a change of broker for a mix of reasons. The service model has drifted — a partner is now dealing with a call centre rather than a named contact. The renewal conversation has become transactional, with no discussion of exposure changes, new services, or new office locations. Placement has narrowed to a single carrier without a stated reason. Advice on aggregation, run-off, or successor practice questions has been thin. Commission or fee structure is unclear on request. None of these are reasons to switch in isolation, but two or three together usually tell you the relationship is no longer serving the firm.
A switch is also worth considering when the firm itself has changed — a new practice area, a new office in a devolved jurisdiction, an acquisition, a change of legal entity, or a step up in fee income of the sort that changes how insurers rate the risk.
PI cover for regulated professions is written on a claims-made basis, which means the policy responding to a claim is the one in force when the claim (or circumstance) is first notified, not the one in force when the work was done. Continuity matters. A gap of even a day between the old policy expiring and the new one incepting can leave a circumstance uninsured if it emerges in the gap.
The clean approach is to run the two brokers in parallel through the renewal window. The outgoing broker services the existing policy up to the expiry date. The incoming broker prepares the new placement to incept at 00:01 the following day. Nothing is cancelled mid-term unless the firm and both brokers are confident the new placement is bound with matching or wider terms and any pending notification has been transferred.
Under Insurance Act 2015 s.3, a commercial insured owes a duty of fair presentation at inception and at any material variation of the policy. Moving broker does not create a new insurer relationship on its own, but the new broker will need to make a fresh fair presentation to the incoming market. That means the firm has to make available — in a reasonably clear and accessible manner — every matter it knows or ought to know that would influence a prudent underwriter.
In practice this means the incoming broker needs the full history: prior policy schedules and wordings, any endorsements, any notifications made (whether or not they became claims), any circumstances the firm is aware of, any regulator engagement, and any material change in the practice since the last submission.
Expect the incoming broker to ask for the last three to five years of expiring policy documentation, the current proposal form or presentation, a claims and circumstances experience letter from the previous broker or insurer, evidence of regulator registration, and the current fee income split by work type and jurisdiction. If the firm has any live notifications, those transfer with the risk and must be disclosed clearly to the new market.
A considered handover for a mid-sized regulated firm usually takes four to six weeks. Two weeks to gather documentation and complete a proper submission. Two weeks for the incoming broker to negotiate terms in the market. One to two weeks for the firm to review the quote, ask questions and confirm binding. Rushing this window is where errors happen — a form completed at speed misses a matter that should have been disclosed and the new policy is placed on a partial presentation.
Apex Insurance Brokers is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (firm reference 724952). We place PI cover with Lloyd's syndicates and specialist company markets for solicitors, accountants, surveyors, architects, engineers, IT consultants, financial advisers and management consultants. When a firm asks us to take over a placement we ask for the documentation set above, walk through the practice with the person who runs it, and prepare a fresh fair-presentation submission before we approach the market. A named broker owns the file from first call through binding. Ninety-five per cent of our clients renew with us the following year.
Thinking about switching
Move without a gap in cover. A named broker reads every submission and comes back with terms within one working day.