Protection industry figurehead Johnny Timpson has been awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Year honour’s list.
Timpson’s award was for voluntary services to people with disabilities and to the financial sector.
Commenting in the wake of his award this morning, Timpson told Health & Protection he was “surprised and delighted”.
“I have to admit that having been advised in late November that a recommendation had been made, it was incredibly difficult to keep it a secret from family and friends for a month but I managed to do it”, he added.
The protection industry stalwart and independent consultant last year began a three-year term as a member of the independent Financial Services Consumer Panel.
He has worked in the insurance and banking sectors for more than 40 years including seven years at Scottish Widows as a financial resilience and protection insurance specialist.
A champion of inclusion and diversity, Timpson has supported the third sector and consumer groups in relation to insurance issues and for the last three years has been the Cabinet Office disability and access ambassador for the insurance sector and, on an interim basis, the banking sector.
Elaborating on his proudest achievements within this role, Timpson said that these included:
- bringing the industry together and working collaboratively with the support of charities and consumer groups to improve access, inclusion, intersectionality and signposting.
- delivering voluntary industry signposting and underwriting transparency agreements.
- raising awareness of visible and non-visible disabilities and health conditions and the need to improve access to reasonable adjustments, particularly in relation to the menopause and neurodiversity.
- assisting the industry to keep protection insurance as accessible as possible to consumers while facing the challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic and its transition to becoming endemic.
- raising the profile of insurance and particularly individual and group protection insurance need with government, parliamentarians and the regulator.
Timpson added it was a privilege to have the support, trust and confidence of colleagues from across the insurance sector, charities, disabled people’s organisations and consumer groups on the need to improve access to insurance cover and careers along with inclusion, transparency, outcomes, professionalism, collaboration and signposting.
Timpson is also financial inclusion commissioner and a part of the prime minister’s champion group for dementia communities, plus an ambassador for the GriefChat bereavement counselling service.
He is part of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries mental health working group, the British Insurance Brokers Association access to insurance committee and sits on the steering committee of Group for Autism, Insurance and Neurodiversity (Gain).
And he is a supporter of the Edinburgh University Business School supporting healthy ageing in the workplace project and International Longevity Centre Dementia programmes.
