Competition and new players in some lines are continuing to keep UK commercial insurance rates down, Marsh says in a report on the first quarter.

But the broker says the decline is less than in previous years.

Property rates eased 0.5%, employers’ liability dropped 4% and public liability was down 3.5%, based on business Marsh placed for corporate clients in what is traditionally its highest volume quarter of the year.

Marsh’s UK Placement Leader Tim Pritchard says most property clients saw no change to their insurance rates at renewal. However, in long-term deals increases between 2.5%-10% were generally agreed for years two and three.

“The average rate reduction for employers’ liability has reduced this quarter to the lowest level since 2004,” Mr Pritchard said. “Most renewals were flat, with reductions in a small number of cases.

“For public liability, the magnitude of the rate reductions has again reduced and is now below 5%. The majority of renewals in this class were also flat.”

He says in the past four years general insurance rates have dropped by an average 47%.