UK-based ICMIF member and specialist insurer Ecclesiastical has announced it has welcomed Shire Insurance back into its schemes book.
Shire is a specialist finance and insurance broker with over 40 years’ experience working with and supporting the veterinary sector. Providing insurance for veterinary practices, including surgery, professional indemnity and employee health and wellbeing schemes. As trusted advisors to the profession, they also source commercial finance for new starts, refinancing, expansion and share purchase.
Shire Insurance previously worked with Ecclesiastical until March 2022 before moving to a new schemes partner as they sought to expand into areas Ecclesiastical wasn’t pursuing at the time.
Two years on and Shire Insurance and Ecclesiastical say they have reforged their partnership, with Ecclesiastical’s schemes team moving quickly to build the scheme and begin writing new businesses within eight weeks.
Ecclesiastical has set an ambitious target to double the size of the business by 2026 and has identified the schemes space as an area for growth. In the last 12 months, the specialist insurer has announced new partnerships with iprism, Brooks Braithwaite, Brokerbility and Towergate Care.
Chris Withers, schemes and partnerships director at Ecclesiastical Insurance, said: “We’re rightly in the business of celebrating our successes at Ecclesiastical and 2023 saw us secure some really important new business for our schemes book.
“At the same time, there are occasions where we need to be honest enough to admit when we’ve not got it right – and two years ago we lost Shire Insurance to another provider due to our appetite at the time not aligning with theirs.
“Things have moved on for both parties since then, and I’m really pleased we’re in a position to work with Shire Insurance again to help develop their scheme and grow the business.”
Ecclesiastical says this latest partnership with Shire Insurance is further evidence of its underwriting capability, capacity and flexibility when working with specialist brokers who manage schemes.
Dan Leyland, operations director at Shire Insurance, said: “I’m very happy to come back on board with Ecclesiastical.
“We spoke with several other insurers before we came back and it was really important we did our due diligence to find the right partner for us. It’s about finding someone you can work collaboratively with, with flexibility and compromise on both sides.
“In the past we’ve been promised things by insurance companies that haven’t happened for whatever reason, but I’m pleased to be coming back to Ecclesiastical. We know how good the service and expertise of their teams is and I’m looking forward to working closely with them once again.”
