The financial services sector’s awards circuit has remained busy despite these challenging times, with events taking place online throughout the year. The Shepherds Friendly team has had some more good news following two of the most recent virtual ceremonies.

This year, as meetings and social events have transferred online, so too have the awards ceremonies we look forward to in our calendars. The black-tie galas have made way for more casual virtual events, with those involved in financial services celebrating successes in the industry from the comfort of their own homes and offices.

We’re pleased to share that our commitment to providing excellent service and straightforward products has not gone unnoticed. Following two particularly prestigious awards ceremonies held recently, Shepherds Friendly now has two more accolades to win to our growing list.

COVER Excellence Awards 2020

These virtual ceremonies have kept all the excitement of their in-person counterparts, and the COVER Excellence Awards, which took place on Tuesday 10^th November 2020, were no different. These awards aim to “celebrate the leading firms and intermediaries within the protection, life and health insurance space”.

In the face of strong competition – with many big names appearing alongside us on the list of nominees – we took home an accolade on the night. Shepherds Friendly was highly commended in the Best Individual Income Protection category. Head of Sales, Alex Fallowes said:

“The COVER Excellence Awards are highly respected and coveted within the industry, so for us to be nominated was reason enough to be proud. Being highly commended in such a tough category is fantastic news and is testament to our commitment to making sure that our Income Protection is suited to the needs of our members and intermediaries.

“We’d like to thank the judges and pass on our sincere congratulations to all of this year’s nominees and winners.”

British Claims Awards 2020

We pride ourselves on our human approach to claims at Shepherds Friendly, with each case being looked at on an individual basis. A nomination for the British Claims Awards 2020 was welcome acknowledgement of our hard work to make sure our claims process is as straightforward, personal and stress-free as possible.

The awards, which took place on Thursday 19^th November 2020, were another opportunity for our team to enjoy a smooth and engaging online ceremony. When announcing the winners of the Claims Team of the Year, the announcer claimed:

“The winner of Claims Team of the Year is not a business-driven organisation, instead it focuses all of its attention and effort on customers and staff and delivers an excellent service as a result. This approach combined with always ensuring that its technology has a human touch makes this entrant a worthy winner.”

And the winner was… Shepherds Friendly! Head of Claims, Daniel Palk and his team are delighted – he said:

“We are beyond thrilled with this award win. The business, as a whole, puts a lot of focus on service, including how we support our members at claim. In 2020, particularly, there has been a big emphasis on improving and streamlining our claims process, at a time where members needed us most.

“The claims team works extremely hard and they are really passionate about helping members. That means that not only do they carry out their daily duties to the very best of their abilities, but are always looking to go above and beyond and offer ideas to improve how we do things. What a great way to round off 2020, well done, team!”

We are pleased to announce that we have been presented with the Highly Commended Award in the ‘Best Junior ISA Provider’ category at the Moneyfacts awards ceremony, which took place at the Hilton Hotel in London.

The Moneyfacts Investment Life and Pension Awards are presented annually for product excellence and outstanding service, covering various products from across the range of financial services. It celebrates and recognises industry leaders in the financial world and the event was well attended by financial organisations from across the UK.

We have now offered our Junior ISA for seven years and were thrilled to find out that our savings plan for children was recognised as ‘Highly Commended’ by the judging panel, following votes from financial advisers and intermediaries all across the UK.

We would like to thank those advisers who took time out to vote for us, making it possible for us to win the award

Head of marketing, Max Jarrold, said:

“We are delighted that our Junior ISA has received this recognition from Moneyfacts in the Best Junior ISA Provider category. The commendation identifies the competitiveness of our Junior ISA in providing our members with a flexible, accessible and easy to manage savings plan for children, with the features that they would expect from a modern mutual society.”

To find out more about our Junior ISA, please click here. If you’d like more information on our 5 Star Defaqto-rated Income Protection and Over 50s Life Insurance please click these links to visit the relevant pages.

Shepherds Friendly is proud to announce our selection as a finalist in the ‘Best use of Voice of the Customer’ category of the Engage Awards 2018 – the only customer and employee engagement industry awards in the UK.

The Engage Awards showcase organisational excellence and also recognise individuals who have accomplished significant achievements within the customer and employee engagement market.

With the finalists across the Awards categories spanning every single industry sector the standard of entries were extremely high this year and so it is a real achievement for us to have made it as finalists.

The ‘Best use of Voice of the Customer’ category recognises companies who have introduced “effective, sustainable and successful Voice of Customer (VOC) programme(s) that has improved its understanding and insight of customer behaviour and needs, and has used that programme to improve its customer experience offering”.

This is the primary ethos on the basis of which the Society operates – to provide our intermediaries and their clients with the best experience based on their feedback, and by placing them at the heart of every decision we make. It is for that reason that being recognised for this category is an even bigger honour for us.

Libbi Martin, senior marketing manager at Shepherds Friendly, said:

“We are delighted that we have been announced as finalists in the Engage Awards for the Best use of Voice of the Customer category. We constantly strive for excellence and being recognised as a finalist in these Awards reinforces our vision of putting our members at the heart of everything we do, and underlines the hard work of the whole team here at Shepherds Friendly.”

We look forward to attending the award ceremony in London on Monday 12^th November, which is where the winners will be announced. Keep your fingers crossed for us and check in with us then to see how we get on!

This news follows on from us reaching the finalist stage of both the Customer Experience Awards where we have been nominated in the category ‘Best Financial Services – Insurance’ and the Stockport Business Awards, where our nomination is for ‘Business of the Year’. You can find out more about each award by clicking the links.

Late June saw us complete a hat-trick of award shortlists with the news that we have been nominated for ‘Business of the Year’ in the Stockport Business Awards, following on from the Customer Experience and Moneyfacts awards we announced recently!

The Stockport Business Awards celebrate business excellence within the Borough of Stockport, of which our head office in Cheadle is a part, and aim to foster a strong business community within the area.

The award that we have been shortlisted for is ‘Business of the Year’ among firms with a turnover of £5 million or more, and we are hopeful that we will progress on to win! The award ceremony will take place at Stockport Town Hall on Thursday 11^th October, where the winners will be announced.

Our Head of Distribution, Antony Uttley, commented on the third award nomination in a month:

“To be nominated in our local borough of Stockport for Business of the Year is a great achievement for Shepherds Friendly, and rounds off a brilliant month of award nominations for us.

“The Society really is going from strength-to-strength and so to be recognised for this by a range of awards is fantastic for everyone here”.

In case you missed it, you can find out more information about our nomination for Best Income Protection and Best Junior ISA Provider by Moneyfacts, and Best Financial Services – Insurance Provider by the Customer Experience Awards

We are excited to announce that we have made the shortlist as finalists for the UK Customer Experience Awards 2018, in the category ‘Best Financial Services – Insurance’. This is in recognition of our work to provide the best possible service and experience to our intermediaries and members at all times.

The UK Customer Experience Awards, now in its ninth year, has become the biggest customer experience (CX) event of its kind in the world, and the awards are designed to welcome entries from all different types of organisations from all across the UK.

Ian Golding, chair of the UK Customer Experience Awards, commented on how the standard of entries this year was formidable and how it was a record year in terms of the amount of entries received.

Being a finalist is a huge honour and great achievement for us as striving to improve the experience of our members and intermediaries is central to our ethos as a company, so to be recognised for our efforts is pleasing for all of us.

Alex Fallowes, National Distribution Manager at Shepherds Friendly, said:

“We’re delighted to be shortlisted for the Best Financial Services – Insurance provider in the Customer Experience Awards. As a mutual society, everything we do is in the best interests of our intermediaries and members, so to be recognised in the insurance category is testament to this”.

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony at Wembley Stadium in London, on the 11^th October, 2018. Check back with us after then to see how we got on. Wish us luck!

This exciting news follows on from our announcement last week that we have also been nominated for Best Income Protection Provider and Best Junior ISA Provider at the 2018 Investment Life and Pensions Moneyfacts awards, solely voted for by financial advisers like you! Click here to read the full story.

We are delighted to share with our intermediaries that we have been shortlisted in the Investment Life and Pensions Moneyfacts Awards 2018, for the following categories:

• Best Income Protection provider
• Best Junior ISA provider

We would like to thank our advisers who took time out to vote for us, making it possible for us to make the shortlist.

Our National Distribution Manager, Alex Fallowes, said:

“We are delighted to have been shortlisted for the Best Income Protection provider and Best Junior ISA provider. We feel that the awards are an acknowledgement of the products and service we aim to provide to both our intermediaries and their clients, so I’d like to thank again those who took the time to vote for us”.

The highly coveted awards are presented by the Moneyfacts Group and are totally independent. They are presented annually for product excellence and outstanding service and cover various products from across the range of financial services.

Investment Life & Pensions Awards are based on the feedback from adviser readership and Moneyfacts subscriber base. Advisers are free to nominate and vote for any provider they wish, as opposed to having to choose from a predetermined list.

The next steps will involve the research team at Moneyfacts analysing and thoroughly examining our products, prices and features and those of the other firms who have been shortlisted, to determine a final winner.

The winners will be announced at the awards event which will be held on the 19^th of September, 2018, in London. You can check back with us after then to see how we got on. Wish us luck!

On 25th May 2018, new regulations came into force which change the way you deal with your clients’ data. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) builds upon the requirements of the Data Protection Act, but there are some significant changes which you need to be aware of. Keep reading for your five-step GDPR checklist for financial advisers.

1. Document what information you hold

You need to make sure that you document the personal data you hold about your clients, where it came from, and who you share it with.

Undertake an information audit and keep a record of the personal data you have. This will also help you to comply with the new ‘accountability’ principle which requires you to be able to show how you comply with GDPR, for example by having effective procedures in place.

The new regulations also require you to maintain records of your processing activities.  For example, if you have inaccurate personal data and have shared this with another organisation, you now have to tell the other organisation about the inaccuracy, so it can correct its own records. You won’t be able to do this unless you know what personal data you hold, where it came from and who you share it with – so this step is vital when aiming to be compliant with the GDPR.

2. Make sure your existing clients are happy to continue to hear from you

The GDPR changes how you approach new clients and how you communicate with your existing clients. You now must be able to prove you have ‘opt-in’ consent from the people that you contact.

By only communicating with clients who have opted-in to hearing from you, you are more likely to have warm leads, and therefore an increase in sales.

Your first email communication with a potential client will be to ask them to confirm that they are happy to receive further emails from you. Bear in mind that they must have opted in to your correspondence in the first place.

Consent must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous. There must be a positive opt-in – consent cannot be inferred from silence, pre-ticked boxes or inactivity.

Consent must also be separate from other terms and conditions, and you need to have simple ways for people to withdraw consent. The rules on consent are tougher than before, and individuals can withdraw consent at any time.

3. Update your privacy notice

Your privacy notice should explain:

• what personal data you are collecting
• why you are collecting this data
• who you have shared it with
• how you can evidence the deletion of such data to a client.

Now that the GDPR has been implemented, this is a great opportunity to remind your clients that you will continue safeguard their information, and never request or exchange personal information from them without secure transfer. Tell them that their data will be stored securely and not shared without their knowledge.

4. Prove that you are compliant

Under the new regime you must be able to demonstrate that you are compliant with the regulations. You need to be able to show that your contacts have consented to hearing from you, and when and how they gave this consent.

You also need to provide people with the right to be forgotten. This means that, when requested, you will have to entirely delete that contact and their personal details from your system, including long term archives.

You must also be able to provide individuals with their personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable form.

Remember that under the GDPR you will remain responsible for individuals’ personal data throughout the entire data lifecycle. You will have to assure that any data you pass to third parties is handled in a compliant manner.

5. Implement a policy for data breaches and record-keeping

The GDPR may mean that you have to implement new data policies. For example, you will be required to ensure that you have the correct procedures to investigate, detect and report data breaches to all parties affected.

You are under legal obligation to notify data protection authorities within 72 hours of a data breach, and individuals straight away. You will also have to keep records of your data processing activities and undertake privacy impact assessments.

You should designate someone to take responsibility for data protection compliance and, if you’re a larger organisation, you should appoint a Data Protection Officer (DPO).

Make sure you’re ready for the GDPR

Though the GDPR does present some challenges for businesses, many are missing out on some of the opportunities it may bring. For example, by only communicating with clients who want to hear from the business, you are more likely to have warmer leads, who are more likely to convert into sales than customers who don’t want to hear from you. Implementing these changes will also improve your conduct risk as a proper data auditing system would be in place and information will be kept up-to-date.

Moreover, by adhering to the GDPR, using client data properly and conforming to the new regulations, your business will be seen as more trustworthy by clients and this is likely to improve the reputation of your business.

If you deal with any overseas clients, or you have children’s data on record, there are other rules that apply. Find out more information on preparing for the GDPR in the Information Commissioners’ Office guide.