Pen Underwriting doubles SME cyber cover limit and brings claims in-house to unify customer journey
Published On : 08 Jun 2026
Pen Underwriting, the multi-class multi-territory managing general agent (MGA), has made a raft of key enhancements to its UK cyber proposition as part of its ongoing commitment to continuously review and adapt offerings in line with evolving exposures to ensure positive customer outcomes.
The latest enhancements reflect both shifting market conditions and the desire to better accommodate key differences in customer size and complexity across Pen’s very broad underwriting appetite.
They include a doubling of the cover limit available to £10 million (for companies with revenues up to £600m), for risks incepting on or after 1 July 2026, due to increasing broker demand for higher limits, particularly for clients at the larger end of this non-corporate revenue band.
Other key enhancements, already live or coming on stream, include:
• Question sets – have been streamlined, simplified and made ‘smarter’ to reflect shifting customer exposures and to maximise their relevance to a greater number of customer sub-groups
• Excess levels – have been significantly reduced for smaller companies (by more than half for certain revenue bands or limits) to remove barriers to entry and ensure they reflect the different level of exposure posed by smaller firms
• Rates adjusted – at the lower revenue end of Pen’s broad underwriting appetite to further aid affordability for smaller customers and better reflect the underlying risk
• Incident response – separate tower of cover is being increased from £250,000 max to £1million max, outside the main policy limit, to optimise funds available when customers need support and access to breach response expertise during any one incident
• Crime sub-limits – are being increased and made consistent to aid broker cover comparison, with losses flowing from factors such as phishing, corporate identity theft and services fraud all moving upwards to £100,000 or £250,000 dependent on the overall cover limit
To complement the latest cyber cover enhancements, Pen has invested to bring all UK cyber claims handling in-house, creating a unified customer journey from underwriting and inception of risk right through to claims management and resolution. As well as enhancing product feedback and refinement loops, the insourcing of claims is designed to unify data ownership to better inform decision-making and speed up payments to further aid customer satisfaction.
This latest suite of cyber improvements follows six key enhancements announced last September, which were designed to remove upfront burdens on customers in the event of a cyber extortion incident and respond to wider shifts identified in the make-up and potential duration of claims.
Ian Summerfield, Managing Director of Cyber at Pen Underwriting, said: “Our mantra in this market is that cyber risk never stands still, so we won’t either. As market conditions, threats and exposures, and buyer behaviours change, it’s essential we continue to listen to broker feedback and evolve our offering to best meet customers’ needs.
“This is especially important when your underwriting appetite is as broad as Pen’s. The more we can tailor cover to maximise relevance to our hugely diverse customer base, the easier it is for our broker partners to ensure companies invest in the scope of cyber protection they increasingly need.”
