The Protection Distributors Group (PDG) has secured £17,000 in financial sponsorship support from a range of key businesses associated with the protection industry.
The sponsors including CIExpert, IPipeline, Iress, NMG Consulting, Protection Guru, Square Health and UnderwriteMe, have all agreed with the PDG values in working towards delivering better consumer outcomes.
The PDG added its sponsorship income helps enable initiatives aimed at having a positive impact on consumers who purchase protection products and to grow the protection market.
It will also be used to keep membership fees affordable for all member firms and fund the cost of the small PDG executive.
The body was established in 2016 by a group of protection advisers, and incorporated as a not for profit organisation in November 2020.
In April 2023 there were 23 firm members in the PDG, including networks, nationals and individual practices.
Neil McCarthy, chairman of the PDG, (pictured) said: “As the PDG grows we want to use the funding to better support the operational side so we can continue to develop and deliver actions on a number of initiatives.
“We have successfully created a claims charter outlining what we feel is an industry wide minimum best practice to help clients, which has been adopted by most insurers, as well as a funeral payment pledge, and are working on a number of initiatives to improve standards in policy retention processes and distribution transparency.”
Steve Casey, marketing director of Square Health, said: “Square Health is delighted to become an inaugural sponsor for the PDG which is at the forefront of raising standards to deliver better customer outcomes.”
Alan Lakey, director of CIExpert, added the firm felt “very aligned” with the PDG’s initiatives and therefore its sponsorship and support “was a very natural decision”.