How much does professional indemnity insurance cost?

What is the average cost of professional indemnity insurance?

On average, AXA customers pay £6.17* a month or £74** a year for professional indemnity insurance.

It’s important to note that these prices are an average, and no two businesses have the same cost. There are several other factors that impact how much your premium will be.

How is my premium calculated?

There are several factors that are considered when your price is calculated so it’s important to understand what they are, and why they affect your premium.

Your occupation

Different occupations have different levels of risk associated with them, so, your occupation will play a role in how much you pay. Occupations within professional services often pose lower risk since that majority of your time is likely spend working from an office or from home.

Whether or not you’re part of an industry body

Industry bodies have minimum standards of cover that they will require you to have. For example, chartered accountants are required to have cover for dishonesty of employees. Whether or not you are required to have specific areas of cover will affect your price.

The size of your business

Everyone wants to expand their business, which means more clients in need of your services. The more work you’re taking on, the higher your potential risk of a claim happening being made if something goes wrong.

The same goes for the contracts you take on. As your business increases in size and reputation, you’re likely to be contracted for more high-profile jobs than before. This means bigger claims if a client suffers a loss and will require a higher level of cover.

Previous work undertaken

Professional indemnity claims tend to be long running, with work you’ve undertaken years ago still having the ability to cause a claim to this day. This is due to the nature of your work – actions taken on the back of your advice years previously may now only be having negative financial implications for a client.

That’s why we offer the option to cover your previous work when you insure your business with us – so you’re protected from the past, present, and into the future. If you choose to add this to your professional indemnity cover, it will affect your overall price.

Run off cover

If you’re an existing customer and you’re closing own your business, you can still be offered run off cover to protect any past work you’ve done even though your business has now ceased trading.

Level of cover

Professional indemnity policies start from £100,000 and can range up to £5 million*** and the higher level of cover you chose, the most expensive your policy is likely to be.

Claim history

As you might expect, customers with fewer – or no – claims tend to pay less for insurance. Which is why, if you’ve made a claim in the past, then you’ll likely see that your premium is higher than expected. This is more likely the more recent your claim is.

Amount of excess willing to pay

As with most insurances, the excess you choose to pay impacts your premium as you’re taking on more of the potential claims cost upfront. Simply put – the larger the amount of excess you’re paying the lower your premium is likely to be.

It’s important to note that your amount of excess is also linked to your turnover.

*10% of our customers paid from £6.17 for ten months between October and December 2023 after an initial deposit. Interest applicable. For more details see our terms & conditions.

**10% of our customers paid this or less between October and December 2023.

***Depending on your occupation.

^◆This discount is applied automatically and lasts for the lifetime of your policy.