The UK professional indemnity insurance market in 2017

The following gives a snapshot of the UK professional indemnity insurance market in 2017, including information about the size of the market, product distribution, major insurance companies and examples of larger claims. The information is updated periodically.

Size of the market

• Estimated premium value of UK market; £2.1 billion
• Estimated number of UK policyholders; 1.5 million
• Growth in the self employed and freelance markets coupled with improved online product distribution has fuelled a considerable rise in policyholder numbers in the last 5 years.
• Over 500 different occupation types now purchase professional indemnity insurance. These include the original traditional professions such as solicitors and accountants but also the many other emerging occupation in science ,technology and medical.

Claims

An example of a large professional negligence claim in the UK; A negligence claim of £ 1.6 billion was filed in 2013 against a major Accountancy firm. The claim was based on the auditing of a sub-prime lender. It was settled in 2015 just before it’s high court hearing and the terms of settlement remain confidential.

Main types of work causing professional indemnity insurance claims (excluding medical malpractice)

• Conveyancing (Legal)
• Taxation (Accountancy)
• Investment/mis-selling (Financial Advice)
• Valuation (Property )
• Design (Construction)

Market Distribution

Distribution is dominated by specialist insurance brokers. Over 80% of all UK professional indemnity premium is placed through insurance brokers.

Distribution of PI insurance online is the fastest growing sector of the market in terms of policy sales. Number of Google searches; 250,000 annual.

Largest professions (excluding medical) by estimated open market annual premium

1. Solicitors ; £300 million
2. Accountants ; £100 million
3. Consulting Engineers ; £70 million
4. Surveyors/Property ; £60 million
5. Financial Advisers ; £70 million
6. Architects ; £50 million
7. IT ; £50 million

Specialist Insurance Brokers

• Professional Indemnity Insurance Brokers-Tel 0800 180 4203
• Brunel Professions
• Ntegrity Insurance Solutions
• IT ; £50 million

Major Insurers

Largest professional indemnity insurer; Lloyds of London through various syndicates.

Other major insurers include;

• AIG
• AXA
• Hiscox
• Liberty Mutual
• Manchester Underwriting
• Nexus Underwriting
• Royal and Sun Alliance
• Tokyo Marine HCC
• Travelers
• Zurich

Top UK cities with industry recognised professional indemnity insurance markets

1. London
2. Bristol
3. Edinburgh

This article is intended for information purposes only. Whilst all care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the article it is not to be regarded as a substitute for specific advice. © 2019 Lex Insure Services Ltd – 0800 180 4203.