January 30, 2024
As we look ahead to a New Year and all the exciting things 2024 has in store for us, we thought it would be a good time to recap on all the equally good things we achieved and experienced during 2023.
From charity fundraisers and exam passes to births and surprise proposals, 2023 was most definitely a year to remember. Join us as we recount our best moments, and look ahead to the next 12 months.
Winter Social
Mamma Mia the Party gave Team RG the chance to get together and let our hair down. As you can see, it was a truly fun night of music, dancing and dining.
No surprises for guessing who netted the ‘best dressed’ prize – of course it was Marcus Hill (pictured as a vision in red) who did the best job of whisking us all back to the 70s.
BIBA Conference
The British Insurance Brokers’ Association Conference in May was a fantastic opportunity for us all to meet and network with lots of fellow brokers from around the country. It also gave us the chance to build on our insurer partnerships, which is always a major advantage for our clients.
Ellie Jackson, Jason Willis, Conor Palmer, myself and fellow director Simon made the pilgrimage to Manchester for the two-day event, which saw us attending a series of valuable networking sessions, webinars and meetings.
Lift Industry Mental Health Charter Charity Football Day
The Lift Industry Mental Health Charter Cup charity football tournament on 20th May was organised to help highlight mental health in the industry.
The turnout from the industry was amazing, proving how we can all get behind a great cause and shine a light on the importance of talking about our own mental health.
Despite Luke Weight’s spectacular couple of goals for which he was endowed RG’s Player of the Match title, it was to be early showers for Team RG after only the first round. But that didn’t detract from the fact that we all thoroughly enjoyed the day.
Congratulations!
It was a joyful day when our Laura Morrison welcomed her baby son Ronan into the world on 25th May.
And then in June, completely out of the blue, our Ellie Jackson received a surprise proposal whilst on holiday in Seville. She is due to marry in October this year.
Summer Social
When the sun makes an appearance and the evenings are long and balmy, there’s nothing else for it but to get together over a BBQ. And that’s precisely what we did in July for our Team RG summer social when we all convened at Meat London for a fun BBQ workshop.
Conor Palmer took on the role of Chief Griller, whilst we all enjoyed an array of delicious kebabs, burgers and even sweet pizzas, as well as learning some seriously useful BBQ skills that will stand us in good stead for many summers to come.
A New Office Mascot
Saffie the rescue dog was adopted from an RSPCA centre having been left there at just six months old.
Owner Ellie brings Saffie in to the office from time to time, where she is made a proper fuss of and is given way too many treats.
Macmillan Coffee Morning
Our Macmillan Coffee Morning in October was a roaring success, raising £1,095 for this hugely important cause.
Macmillan Cancer Support is almost entirely funded by donations and simply cannot support the growing number of people with cancer who need them without the public’s help. This is why it was so heart-warming to see such amazing support on the day.
In standard Team RG style, staff pulled out all the stops to fill our tables with an array of delectable sweet and savoury treats, all expertly crafted by their own fair hands.
Exam Success
Luke Weight made us very proud in November when he was awarded his final CII Certificate in Insurance by The Chartered Insurance Institute.
It’s a fantastic achievement and we fully support Luke as he makes plans to go on to study for his Diploma.
Supporting Mental Health in the Workplace
In September, Marcus Hill and Claire Matthews completed a two-day Lift Industry Mental Health Charter course and became official Mental Health First Aiders.
As well as providing a listening ear for members of Team RG, Marcus and Claire are also happy to extend their support skills to RG clients. So, if anyone has a need to talk to someone, we’re here for you. Getting the right support is important and, hopefully together, we can help make a difference and ensure mental health is valued, promoted and protected.
Christmas Get-Together
Late November saw us head to The Curling Club in London where we were split into four teams to pit our sliding skills against each other.
It was a great night with plenty of competitive spirit in the air, and we got to enjoy some truly delicious alpine food and drinks too.
The winners on the night were Simon Preston, Sue Pace, Ken O’Neill and Sarah Scotchmer, although there is some disagreement over how legitimate the results actually were ;)
Warm welcomes
We were delighted to welcome three new members onto Team RG in 2023.
Chrissie Hale joined us in January 2023 as our Compliance Officer, bringing with her more than two decades’ worth of project management and compliance experience and cementing our commitment to providing our clients with the utmost in service standards.
There was also good news in October as Chrissie passed her Certification in Compliance in October.
Sarah Scotchmer joined Team Lift Plan on 1st September, stepping in for Laura Morrison following the birth of her son in May.
Sarah’s background is in motor trade insurance, and she brings with her ten years of managerial experience and expertise which we know will be of considerable value to our clients.
Bobby Ryan also took his place within Team RG in 2023, joining us from Chingford Foundation School as an apprentice in our Commercial Team. This is Bobby’s first role in the field of insurance, and we are fully supporting his ambitions to achieve his Cert II within the next two years.
What’s in Store for 2024 – closing thoughts from RG’s MD
2023 was quite a year, both inside and outside of work. As we look ahead to 2024, in true Robert Gerrard style, we are firmly committed to building on the success of last year, and to making the next 12 months matter even more than the last.
Having worked for Robert Gerrard now for 38 years, I have to say I don’t think I can ever remember being more excited about the next 12 months as I am about 2024.
I am so proud of the team we’ve created. We’ve managed to achieve a nicely balanced blend of experience and fresh blood, which is just what our industry needs as we embrace the changing face of work and life, with technology playing an increasingly integral role.
RG has grown at an amazing pace over the last four years. Our team has almost doubled in size, and financially we are not far behind. We currently have a lovely mix of being a 50-year old business, yet feeling like a bright new enterprise, with 60% of our team having joined us in just the last three years.
A large part of this I put down to our hugely successful apprenticeship scheme that I am personally very proud of. Watching young people fresh out of school turn into full time qualified insurance brokers is an amazing experience. I would encourage any business in any industry to look long and hard at employing an apprentice, because the rewards are significant from so many perspectives.
2024 is going to be the year that we build on everything we put into achieving last year. Our team will of course continue to be there to support our clients as their chosen insurance partners.
Our core aim is to continue to add value for busy people, and we’ll do this by making sure every one of our clients is adequately covered insurance-wise in what has become an incredibly and sometimes dauntingly fast-paced world.
Over the next 12 months, we have two major focuses:
Cyber insurance – last year, Allianz saw more cyber claims that any other type of claim. This type of threat simply did not exist three years ago, so it is our big focus this year to make sure all of our clients fully understand the threats that lie within the online world, and are fully covered against them.
Rebuild costs – we are making it our duty this year to ensure all of our clients’ buildings are fully insured. Rebuild costs have considerably outweighed inflation increases over the last 10 years, and we are finding some clients are as much as 50% underinsured, which means it has never been more important to make reviewing property rebuild values a priority.
Finally, on behalf of myself and Team RG, I would to say a big THANK YOU to our very loyal clients. Without you, RG would simply not exist.
All the best
Carla
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As we look ahead to a New Year and all the exciting things 2024 has in store for us, we thought it would be a good time to recap on all the equally good things we achieved and experienced during 2023.
From charity fundraisers and exam passes to births and surprise proposals, 2023 was most definitely a year to remember. Join us as we recount our best moments, and look ahead to the next 12 months.
Winter Social
Mamma Mia the Party gave Team RG the chance to get together and let our hair down. As you can see, it was a truly fun night of music, dancing and dining.
No surprises for guessing who netted the ‘best dressed’ prize – of course it was Marcus Hill (pictured as a vision in red) who did the best job of whisking us all back to the 70s.
BIBA Conference
The British Insurance Brokers’ Association Conference in May was a fantastic opportunity for us all to meet and network with lots of fellow brokers from around the country. It also gave us the chance to build on our insurer partnerships, which is always a major advantage for our clients.
Ellie Jackson, Jason Willis, Conor Palmer, myself and fellow director Simon made the pilgrimage to Manchester for the two-day event, which saw us attending a series of valuable networking sessions, webinars and meetings.
Lift Industry Mental Health Charter Charity Football Day
The Lift Industry Mental Health Charter Cup charity football tournament on 20th May was organised to help highlight mental health in the industry.
The turnout from the industry was amazing, proving how we can all get behind a great cause and shine a light on the importance of talking about our own mental health.
Despite Luke Weight’s spectacular couple of goals for which he was endowed RG’s Player of the Match title, it was to be early showers for Team RG after only the first round. But that didn’t detract from the fact that we all thoroughly enjoyed the day.
Congratulations!
It was a joyful day when our Laura Morrison welcomed her baby son Ronan into the world on 25th May.
And then in June, completely out of the blue, our Ellie Jackson received a surprise proposal whilst on holiday in Seville. She is due to marry in October this year.
Summer Social
When the sun makes an appearance and the evenings are long and balmy, there’s nothing else for it but to get together over a BBQ. And that’s precisely what we did in July for our Team RG summer social when we all convened at Meat London for a fun BBQ workshop.
Conor Palmer took on the role of Chief Griller, whilst we all enjoyed an array of delicious kebabs, burgers and even sweet pizzas, as well as learning some seriously useful BBQ skills that will stand us in good stead for many summers to come.
A New Office Mascot
Saffie the rescue dog was adopted from an RSPCA centre having been left there at just six months old.
Owner Ellie brings Saffie in to the office from time to time, where she is made a proper fuss of and is given way too many treats.
Macmillan Coffee Morning
Our Macmillan Coffee Morning in October was a roaring success, raising £1,095 for this hugely important cause.
Macmillan Cancer Support is almost entirely funded by donations and simply cannot support the growing number of people with cancer who need them without the public’s help. This is why it was so heart-warming to see such amazing support on the day.
In standard Team RG style, staff pulled out all the stops to fill our tables with an array of delectable sweet and savoury treats, all expertly crafted by their own fair hands.
Exam Success
Luke Weight made us very proud in November when he was awarded his final CII Certificate in Insurance by The Chartered Insurance Institute.
It’s a fantastic achievement and we fully support Luke as he makes plans to go on to study for his Diploma.
Supporting Mental Health in the Workplace
In September, Marcus Hill and Claire Matthews completed a two-day Lift Industry Mental Health Charter course and became official Mental Health First Aiders.
As well as providing a listening ear for members of Team RG, Marcus and Claire are also happy to extend their support skills to RG clients. So, if anyone has a need to talk to someone, we’re here for you. Getting the right support is important and, hopefully together, we can help make a difference and ensure mental health is valued, promoted and protected.
Christmas Get-Together
Late November saw us head to The Curling Club in London where we were split into four teams to pit our sliding skills against each other.
It was a great night with plenty of competitive spirit in the air, and we got to enjoy some truly delicious alpine food and drinks too.
The winners on the night were Simon Preston, Sue Pace, Ken O’Neill and Sarah Scotchmer, although there is some disagreement over how legitimate the results actually were ;)
Warm welcomes
We were delighted to welcome three new members onto Team RG in 2023.
Chrissie Hale joined us in January 2023 as our Compliance Officer, bringing with her more than two decades’ worth of project management and compliance experience and cementing our commitment to providing our clients with the utmost in service standards.
There was also good news in October as Chrissie passed her Certification in Compliance in October.
Sarah Scotchmer joined Team Lift Plan on 1st September, stepping in for Laura Morrison following the birth of her son in May.
Sarah’s background is in motor trade insurance, and she brings with her ten years of managerial experience and expertise which we know will be of considerable value to our clients.
Bobby Ryan also took his place within Team RG in 2023, joining us from Chingford Foundation School as an apprentice in our Commercial Team. This is Bobby’s first role in the field of insurance, and we are fully supporting his ambitions to achieve his Cert II within the next two years.
What’s in Store for 2024 – closing thoughts from RG’s MD
2023 was quite a year, both inside and outside of work. As we look ahead to 2024, in true Robert Gerrard style, we are firmly committed to building on the success of last year, and to making the next 12 months matter even more than the last.
Having worked for Robert Gerrard now for 38 years, I have to say I don’t think I can ever remember being more excited about the next 12 months as I am about 2024.
I am so proud of the team we’ve created. We’ve managed to achieve a nicely balanced blend of experience and fresh blood, which is just what our industry needs as we embrace the changing face of work and life, with technology playing an increasingly integral role.
RG has grown at an amazing pace over the last four years. Our team has almost doubled in size, and financially we are not far behind. We currently have a lovely mix of being a 50-year old business, yet feeling like a bright new enterprise, with 60% of our team having joined us in just the last three years.
A large part of this I put down to our hugely successful apprenticeship scheme that I am personally very proud of. Watching young people fresh out of school turn into full time qualified insurance brokers is an amazing experience. I would encourage any business in any industry to look long and hard at employing an apprentice, because the rewards are significant from so many perspectives.
2024 is going to be the year that we build on everything we put into achieving last year. Our team will of course continue to be there to support our clients as their chosen insurance partners.
Our core aim is to continue to add value for busy people, and we’ll do this by making sure every one of our clients is adequately covered insurance-wise in what has become an incredibly and sometimes dauntingly fast-paced world.
Over the next 12 months, we have two major focuses:
Cyber insurance – last year, Allianz saw more cyber claims that any other type of claim. This type of threat simply did not exist three years ago, so it is our big focus this year to make sure all of our clients fully understand the threats that lie within the online world, and are fully covered against them.
Rebuild costs – we are making it our duty this year to ensure all of our clients’ buildings are fully insured. Rebuild costs have considerably outweighed inflation increases over the last 10 years, and we are finding some clients are as much as 50% underinsured, which means it has never been more important to make reviewing property rebuild values a priority.
Finally, on behalf of myself and Team RG, I would to say a big THANK YOU to our very loyal clients. Without you, RG would simply not exist.
All the best
Carla