Most business owners renew their insurance the way they renew their broadband contract – they check the price, wince slightly, and accept it. If the premium has not gone up dramatically, it feels like a win. But in 2026, that approach carries a real and growing risk, and it is not the one you might think.
The bigger danger is not overpaying. It is being underinsured, or insured for a version of your business that no longer exists.
The Market Has Shifted
Here is a piece of genuinely good news for UK businesses. Commercial insurance rates have been falling. According to data from Marsh’s UK Insurance Market Index, UK commercial insurance rates declined by 6% in Q3 2025 – the seventh consecutive quarter of decline. In the property market specifically, well-managed businesses with a clear risk management framework have been achieving rate reductions of between 11% and 30% at renewal.
That is a meaningful opportunity. But those savings are going to the businesses that engage properly with their cover, not to those that simply click ‘renew’ each year.
Insurers are competing for good-quality business right now, and they reward clients who share clear, accurate risk information. As Insurance Business Magazine noted, the market is increasingly dividing between businesses that are proactive partners in their own resilience and those that remain passive buyers. The former get better terms. The latter get whatever they are given.
Your Business Has Changed. Has Your Policy?
Think about how your business looked three years ago compared to today. Have you taken on new staff? Added a vehicle to the fleet? Started storing more stock? Moved to hybrid working, with employees using home networks to access company systems? Taken on a new contract that exposes you to different kinds of liability?
Every one of these changes alters your risk profile. And if your insurance policy does not reflect those changes, you are not fully covered, regardless of what it says on the renewal notice.
Underinsurance is one of the most persistent and costly problems in UK commercial insurance. It typically surfaces not at renewal, but at the worst possible moment: when a claim is made. An insurer assessing a claim against a policy that does not accurately reflect the current value of your assets or the scope of your operations has every right to reduce the payout accordingly. The result is that businesses which believed they were protected find themselves absorbing losses they assumed their insurer would cover.
The Risks That Have Grown Since Your Last Review
Even setting aside changes within your own business, the external risk environment has shifted considerably. Three areas stand out for UK businesses in 2026:
Cyber risk. Record cyber attacks in 2025 caused widespread disruption across UK businesses of all sizes. Yet Insurance Times reports that cyber insurance penetration among SMEs remains extremely low, with global penetration still at around 5% or below. If your business holds customer data, processes payments online, or relies on digital systems for day-to-day operations, standalone cyber cover deserves serious consideration. The good news is that rates have softened, making it more accessible than ever.
Supply chain exposure. Geopolitical tensions and trade fragmentation have made supply chains less predictable. The Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee flagged these risks explicitly in late 2025, noting that disruption to global trade could have a material impact on the UK economy. For businesses that depend on imported goods, specialist suppliers, or time-sensitive delivery, reviewing your business interruption cover and supply chain protection is a prudent step.
Liability. The liability landscape continues to evolve, with insurers adding more exclusions to general liability policies as new risk categories emerge – from AI-related exposures to environmental claims. If your policy was written more than two or three years ago, the coverage you assumed you had may have been quietly narrowed since then.
What a Good Insurance Review Actually Looks Like
A proper risk review is not a five-minute conversation with your existing insurer. It is a structured look at how your business has changed, what new risks you face, and whether your current programme gives you genuine protection.
It should cover the sum insured on your property and assets, ensuring they reflect current reinstatement values rather than figures set years ago. It should assess whether your liability limits are still appropriate given your turnover, contracts, and activities. It should look at any coverage gaps that may have emerged as your operations evolved. And it should make sure that long-term agreements or existing contracts are genuinely still in your best interests, rather than an insurer’s.
The businesses that get the best outcomes from this process are those with an independent broker in their corner – someone who can approach the whole market, challenge the terms on offer, and present options based on your specific situation rather than a standard product catalogue.
Don’t Wait for Renewal to Find Out You’re Not Covered
Renewal day is the wrong time to discover that your policy does not reflect your business, that your sums insured are out of date, or that a risk you face every day has never been properly covered. By that point, you are working to someone else’s timetable.
At The Bateman Group, we have been carrying out commercial insurance reviews for businesses across Warwickshire and beyond for nearly six decades. We work across commercial property, liability, fleet, and specialist schemes – always independently, always with your interests as the starting point. If you would like to talk through your current business insurance cover and whether it is still working as hard as it should, we would be glad to hear from you.
