Somewhere between one in five and one in three British motor insurance policies is underwritten in Gibraltar. The range is that wide because nobody official counts. The second thing worth knowing is that the legal arrangement letting them do it runs out at the end of 31 December 2026. It has been extended by twelve months, six times over. The permanent replacement passed into UK law in 2021 and still has not been switched on. This post does two things. It shows where the market share numbers come from and why they disagree, and it sets out what a Gibraltar underwritten policy actually means for you when something goes wrong. Every claim links to its source. Gibraltar Finance, the government's own promotional arm, puts it at [over 20% of the UK motor insurance market](https://www.gibraltarfinance.gi/insurance/motor-and-non-life-insurance), crediting the estimate to one of the Big Four accountancy firms that it does not name and does not date. The same page says there are over 25 motor insurers currently writing new business in Gibraltar, and that motor makes up around 75% of the territory's non-life gross premium income. Estimates elsewhere run higher. Figures of 26%, 30% and more have circulated in the insurance trade press over the last five years. They move around because the people producing them are consultancies sampling the market at different dates on different definitions. What does not exist, as far as we can find, is an official statistic. The Gibraltar Financial Services Commission does not publish a UK market share. Neither the Financial Conduct Authority nor the Prudential Regulation Authority breaks out UK motor premium by the insurer's domicile in a public series. So the honest sentence is that Gibraltar underwrites roughly a quarter of British motor insurance, that the trend has been upward, and that anyone quoting you a decimal place is guessing. Treat that as a warning about the rest of the internet on this subject. One in five was a fair estimate around 2018. It is probably low now, and it is still the figure most pages repeat. Before Brexit, Gibraltar insurers reached the UK through European single market passporting. Afterwards they needed something else, and the something else was designed to be temporary. [Regulation 12(1) of the Financial Services (Gibraltar) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2019/589/made) said Parts 2 and 3 of those Regulations cease to have effect at the end of 31 December 2020. Regulation 12(2) lets the Treasury extend that, and is unusually specific about how: it may only extend the period by 12 months on each occasion. Regulation 12(3) then requires the Treasury to publish and lay before Parliament a statement describing the progress it has made in preparing the replacement legislation. It has done exactly that, every year since. The most recent instrument, [the Financial Services (Gibraltar) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2025](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/1182/made), was made on 11 November 2025 and came into force on 16 December 2025. Its entire operative text substitutes 2026 for 2025. Six annual reprieves, each one requiring a progress report on the thing that has not happened yet. The permanent regime is the Gibraltar Authorisation Regime, and it is already law. [Section 22 of the Financial Services Act 2021](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2021/22/section/22/enacted), with Schedules 6 and 8, creates it. The design is that HM Treasury designates Approved Activities, meaning UK regulated activities that Gibraltar firms may carry on in the UK, and matching Corresponding Activities in Gibraltar. A firm needs GFSC permission for the Corresponding Activity before it can notify and begin the UK one. It is not in force. [Gibraltar Finance's own page on the regime](https://www.gibraltarfinance.gi/gibraltar-authorisation-regime) still says the current estimated timeline is that the regime will come into force in 2024, which tells you roughly how long that page has been waiting for an update. We could not find a published commencement date, and we are not going to invent one. > A quarter of Britain's motor insurance runs on a rule Parliament wrote to last twelve months. Five questions, five answers, each one traceable to the body that decides it. |Question|Where it actually stands| |Who authorised the insurer|The GFSC in Gibraltar. The FCA states that firms using a passport have not been assessed or authorised by the FCA or the PRA| |Do you pay UK Insurance Premium Tax|Yes. IPT attaches to the risk, not the insurer's address, at 12% standard and 20% higher rate since 1 June 2017| |If the insurer fails|The FSCS has stepped in for Gibraltar motor insurers, covering 100% of any compulsory element and 90% of the rest| |If you want to complain|Access to the Financial Ombudsman Service is not automatic and may depend on whether the firm had a UK branch| |Where to check|The FCA register, which identifies firms