Policy Expert has reported another year of profitable expansion in 2025, growing premiums, earnings and customer numbers despite mounting pricing and claims pressures across UK personal lines.
For the 12 months ending Dec. 31, 2025, the insurer lifted gross written premium (GWP) to £485 million, up 6.5% year on year, while underlying EBITDA increased 13.2% to £62.4 million. Active policies across home, motor and pet rose 5.2% to more than 1.6 million, positioning the company as one of the personal lines carriers managing to grow through a softer phase of the UK rating cycle.
Home insurance remained the cornerstone of Policy Expert’s portfolio, with more than 1.4 million active policies and £350 million of GWP during the period. The home book delivered a best estimate loss ratio of 43%, which the firm says reflects disciplined underwriting and efficient claims management.
The result comes against a backdrop of worsening property claims experience across the market. Deloitte analysis suggests UK property insurance claims are expected to reach “£6.1 billion in 2025 – the highest annual payout on record,” up to 50% higher than payouts between 2021 and 2023. Weather‑related claims alone are estimated at £1.6 billion – “more than double the annual levels” seen between 2017 and 2021 and now accounting for roughly a quarter of total property payouts.
Separate data shows that between January and April 2025, UK weather‑related home insurance claims reached £226 million, the highest quarterly total on record and £67 million higher than the previous peak in 2022. Domestic property insurance payouts rose 20% year on year to £886 million over the same period, while business‑related weather claims totalled £109 million.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has also reported that property insurers “paid out the equivalent of £13 million every single day of 2023” to deal with weather‑related disasters, a 10% increase on 2022.
In that context, a 43% best estimate loss ratio on a large home book marks Policy Expert out as comparatively resilient on property risk.
The results land as UK insurers reassess how climate volatility is affecting day-to-day property risk, rather than just headline catastrophe events. Deloitte noted that weather-related claims are rising even as "premiums are expected to fall in 2026," raising familiar concerns over pricing adequacy and underwriting discipline.
Heat‑driven subsidence is also drawing more attention. In the first half of 2025, £153 million of subsidence‑related claims were recorded out of £886 million in total property payouts. These trends are feeding directly into questions about excess structures, postcode‑level pricing and appetite in higher‑risk soil regions, adding another layer of complexity to household books like Policy Expert’s.
Policy Expert’s motor insurance business continued to scale, reaching 211,000 policies in force, with GWP rising to £131 million.
In parallel, the ABI’s premium tracker indicated the “average cost of motor insurance fell to £562 in Q2 2025, £60 less than a year earlier,” even as repair inflation and parts costs remain elevated. The Financial Conduct Authority has pointed to higher claims costs, rather than excess profits, as the main driver of previous premium increases, while also highlighting issues such as "low acceptance rates for storm damage claims and delays linked to outsourced services" in parts of the market.
Loss specialists have also warned that structural cost pressures are re‑emerging despite a recent fall in claim frequency, citing persistent repair cost inflation, higher labour charges and the additional expense of electric vehicle repairs.
Policy Expert’s ability to grow its motor book while maintaining rate adequacy and controlling claims costs will be a key test as the market remains under pressure.
Policy Expert continued to diversify with the rollout of its pet insurance proposition, launched in 2024. The product has already generated more than 20,000 policies and £3.7 million in GWP.
Across the wider market, pet insurance has been one of the more rapidly expanding personal lines. ABI data showed members paid out £1.23 billion in pet insurance claims in 2024, a 4% increase on 2023 and “more than double the level of a decade ago,” with a record 1.8 million claims notified. Dogs accounted for £933 million of payouts, cats £232 million and other pets £61 million.
The number of insured pet owners rose to 4.6 million in 2024, 33% higher than in 2019. Separate market projections suggest the UK pet insurance market is “expected to more than double by 2030,” reinforcing why multi‑line carriers are competing for share.
The company’s 2025 performance comes as UK personal lines pricing moves off the peak of the hard market. Deloitte notes that while claims are rising, “premiums are expected to fall in 2026,” suggesting growing tension between competitive rates and sustainable margins.
Personal lines trend analysis from Insurance Business has highlighted “pricing pressures” and “falling premiums” as central concerns for UK brokers as insurers compete for volume. Other research points to “UK motor and home insurance premiums decline sharply,” even as claims inflation driven by fraud, climate risk, vehicle technology and supply chain disruption continues to weigh on loss costs.
Against that backdrop, Policy Expert’s top‑line growth and earnings uplift suggest it has, for now, managed to balance expansion with underwriting control.
Steve Hardy (pictured), CEO of Policy Expert, said the company remains focused on delivering sustainable growth.
“This has been another important period of progress for Policy Expert. We have continued to grow our customer base, underpinned by a focus on outstanding customer service. This includes our ongoing commitment to our owned building firm and in-house contractor networks, a unique approach which helps reduce cost and repair times for policyholders," Hardy said. "At the same time, as the insurance market evolves and climate volatility becomes the new norm, we have invested in technology and operations to better respond to these challenges and strengthen the resilience of our business."
