Pen Underwriting has extended its capacity partnership with SiriusPoint for its specialist social housing practice through to at least 2030, doubling the premium ceiling from £150 million to £300 million. The early renewal locks in long-term capacity for a sector in which insurer withdrawal has been the more common story in recent years.
The two organisations first announced their partnership in April 2024, with SiriusPoint providing 100% capacity for Pen’s social housing book and the deal renewed ahead of its expiry. Pen, which manages approximately £1 billion in gross written premium, according to its own published corporate materials, is Gallagher’s London-based MGA platform. Its social housing practice, built on more than 20 years of underwriting experience in the housing association sector per Pen’s own account, covers buildings, contents, property owners’ liability and terrorism.
The social housing insurance market has undergone a marked contraction in recent years. Gallagher’s State of the Market: Social Housing report, published in 2024, noted that the preceding 24 months had seen the withdrawal of some of the sector’s more established capacity providers, leaving housing associations seeking new insurers at a time when market choice was narrowing.
Reinsurance costs, cladding remediation obligations following the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire, claims inflation and a history of underinsurance all contributed to insurer exits and rising premiums. Conditions have shown signs of easing as the market slowly softens, but the sector remains specialist and thinly covered relative to the scale of its property stock.
The deal was agreed well before its predecessor’s expiry - a signal of confidence in both the portfolio’s performance and the direction of the partnership. Patrick Charles, global head of P&C programs at SiriusPoint, cited the team’s underwriting approach and long-term strategy as the basis for extending the relationship.
Simon Perry, managing director of real estate and head of social housing at Pen, pointed to the importance of sustained capacity in a specialist market as the rationale for securing the arrangement early.
The social housing renewal is not the only thread connecting Pen and SiriusPoint. In July 2025, the two expanded their partnership into international professional indemnity risks, with SiriusPoint providing 100% capacity for Pen’s international PI portfolio across multiple professions and territories. At the time of the PI announcement, SiriusPoint described the partnership as now spanning social housing, marine and professional indemnity, a broadening of scope that reflects how both organisations have approached the relationship since 2024.
Further appointments and additional details of the social housing proposition are expected in early 2027, according to Pen.
