Professional & Financial Services UK-wide

Insurance distribution and loss adjusting rules

If you distribute insurance — broking, advising on or arranging policies — or adjust losses and handle claims, your rules sit on top of the duties every regulated firm shares: the insurance distribution permission and conduct rulebook, demands-and-needs and product information duties, client money protections, professional indemnity cover, and the permissions and professional standards for loss adjusting and claims handling.

Guide summary

Get FCA permission for insurance distribution or loss adjusting. Give customers an Insurance Product Information Document (IPID) and assess their demands and needs. Hold professional indemnity insurance and protect client money. Complete 15 hours of professional development each year.

  • Get FCA permission for insurance distribution or loss adjusting
  • Give customers the IPID for non-life insurance sales
  • Assess each customer's demands and needs before recommending a product
  • Hold professional indemnity insurance if you have FCA permission
  • Protect client money under CASS 5 rules
  • Complete 15 hours of continuous professional development each year
  • Keep a written policy on conflicts of interest
  • For loss adjusters, get chartered status through CILA (optional but widely expected)
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This guide covers the conduct and standing rules for insurance distribution, loss adjusting and claims handling, on top of the shared duties in run a regulated financial services firm. If you are setting up a broking business and need the authorisation step itself, start with FCA authorisation for insurance brokers and start an insurance broking business, then come back here for the full conduct picture for insurance distribution. Everything here applies UK-wide.

Hold the insurance distribution permission and meet its conduct rules

Advising on, arranging and dealing in contracts of insurance are regulated activities — the insurance distribution regime sets the permission, knowledge-and-competence and conduct standards for everyone in the chain.

Meet the intermediary conduct duties

The day-to-day conduct layer: identify each customer's demands and needs before proposing a policy, give retail customers the product information document for general insurance, protect client money under the insurance client money rules, hold professional indemnity cover, and — if you handle claims as an outsourcer — meet the claims-handling standards.

Loss adjusting: permissions and professional standing

Loss adjusters assess and negotiate insurance claims — activities that generally need FCA permission where they involve regulated claims handling — and the profession runs on chartered standing and its own indemnity expectations.

Next steps

Make sure the shared duties in run a regulated financial services firm are in place, then confirm everything with the financial intermediary compliance checklist.