Lisa Pate, FRSA Executive Director - December 2025
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has announced a 6.9 percent reduction in workers’ comp rates. This is the ninth consecutive year of rate decreases. New rates will go into effect beginning on January 1, 2026 or whenever your workers’ comp policy is renewed.
Each year, FRSA testifies before the OIR, asking for stability in the rates or a rate freeze for roofing classification code 5551. Mark Askins, CEO of BrightFund, FRSA’s workers’ comp program, warned that the continued rate cuts have discouraged most insurers from writing workers’ comp for high-risk professions, such as roofing.
“The underwriters don’t feel that they are able to get the necessary premium to pay for the loss costs over time,” Askins said at the hearing. “It’s because of this that we’ve seen in the past five to 10 years that carriers are determining the viability of making money in a particular class code has driven them out of the state.”
Only a handful of carriers now write high-risk classifications in Florida, he said. He predicted that the lower rates will mean those carriers will increase their minimum premium per employer to at least $25,000 – a level that will prove costly for some small businesses. That leaves professional employer organizations (PEOs) and the assigned risk market as the only viable options for some roofers in Florida, Askins said.
Assigned risk policies carry a “scarlet letter” stigma for employers who may want to return to the voluntary market someday and paperwork for the assigned risk market is a difficult process for agents and employers alike, he added.
“We’re hoping to avoid that and be able to continue to offer, as we have for the past 70 years, well-priced, well-serviced policies for loyal customers in the roofing industry,” Askins stated.
Our concern is two-fold: rates that continue to drop are not sustainable for insurance providers who see roofing as a high-risk industry with little return on premium. We don’t want insurance providers to stop writing workers’ comp coverage and follow the same path as homeowners’ insurance coverage. Second, an unintended consequence of lower workers’ comp rates is the increase in experience modification rates. With higher mods, it makes it more difficult for contractors to bid on many jobs as building owners and GCs often require a mod rate below a certain level.
The good news is that the roofing contractors will be paying 11.04 percent less on the classification code 5551 for the 2026 year.
Looking for workers’ comp insurance with exceptional customer service, a drug-free workplace program and the potential for dividends? Call 800-767-3772 ext. 206 and speak with Alexis at BrightFund.