Should there be a single renewal date for solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance? The question is an old one, and when the PII market is soft, competition heavy, and premiums low, answers are less forthcoming. But now that there are real renewal problems facing many law firms, the question becomes a pertinent one.Solicitors from small and medium-sized firms, and a number of PII brokers, have called for the 1 October deadline to be extended, and next year, abolished. Solicitors said that an extension is needed because of delayed responses to proposals by insurers, very small time-frames within which to consider some insurers’ quotes, and perhaps most importantly, the need to find cheaper premiums before the deadline. On the brokering side, Nick Pointon, managing director of PYV, said this year – as he did last year – that solicitors would receive better service from the insurance industry if renewals were spread out and if brokers could offer PII policies that were longer or shorter than a year.

So, I did a snap poll of the leading insurers to see whether they thought that a single renewal date was a good thing or not.

Travelers, AIG, Quinn and RSA were indifferent, saying that there were advantages and disadvantages. Combined, these insurers control almost half of the solicitors’ PII market. Meanwhile, Zurich, which controls around 16% of the market, said that it is in favour of scrapping the single renewal date because it could see ‘considerable benefit from an insurer’s perspective’ in doing so, and it would ‘improve the renewals process’. QBE, which controls around 15% of the market, declined to comment.

Collectively, these insurers control almost 80% of the solicitors’ PII market. But their views, and the calls of ‘abolish!’ from some solicitors and brokers, should be set against the (rather uncompromising) view of the SRA: ‘We have looked at the arguments for and against and have concluded that there is no compelling reason to move away from a single renewal date.’

Should the single renewal date be abolished, should it stay, or is it not really the problem?