Delite Insurance Agency - Achievement through conviction

On the surface, Delite Insurance Agency does not seem any different from the vast majority of SME-sized brokers across the country. They cover both personal and commercial lines, including a taxi policy that, despite being regarded as the "dregs of the insurance industry", is proving profitable.

Bread and butter policies include travel, home, motor and life quotes, alongside a select number of commercial risks including employers' liability, shop insurance and professional indemnity. Where Delite differs from the vast majority of the competition is with its work in insuring ex-offenders.

According to Cook, "maybe as many as 20" brokers insure ex-offenders, equating to approximately 0.5% of the broking community in the UK. As part of ex-offenders charity Unlock's broker panel (the company is one of seven brokers involved), Delite works to bring insurance solutions to former criminals that struggle with everything from house insurance to trades insurance for work as a result of their convictions.

Fair

Cook says: "Society spends £40,000 a year accommodating and retraining a prisoner and then stops. For example, someone spends five years in prison and while they are there they retrain to be a builder. When they come out, no one will employ them and so they decide to become self-employed but then find they can't get insurance. They become disheartened and revert to their old (criminal) trade."

Cook prides himself on treating his clients justly: "I know there are brokers that see this as an opportunity to line their pockets with the clients' money. I won't do that. I will always do my best to price match them to what they would've been paying before the conviction came out."

The limited size of Delite's staff has made some aspects of the firm's broking challenging; this is particularly the case regarding regulation, which Cook believes will "always be a nightmare", though having less staff can also be beneficial. He notes: "If you can think outside the box then there are advantages. You do not have to go to a committee to have decisions made." A personal relationship with niche Lloyd's underwriters also helped turn around policies in minutes instead of days. Cook continues: "This isn't something the big five insurers do offer, nor should they, because they would make the process too automated."

Delite's software house is SSP, and while Cook is happy with the service the broker receives, he believes that the nature of its non-standard policies means it will remain impossible to entirely computerise Delite's quotes.

Asked how small brokers can survive in a competitive market, Cook denies that the response is to join a network and comments: "Brokers should learn that if they are capable then they should be able to succeed without a network. What they are forgetting is that niche is going to grow, not decline. They have got to stand on their own two feet."

Looking for innovative business routes can prove profitable, as has been the case with providing ex-offenders with cover, yet other unusual choices have not worked so well. Cook sighs: "There was one piece of advertising that fell flat. On this occasion I contacted a business with a proposal. They didn't keep up with what they'd promised, we signed a contract with them and they fouled it up. They promised advertising both on their website and emails but it never happened. I'm just glad it only cost me a small sum and not thousands."

Frustrations have also been felt at British Insurance Brokers' Association conferences. Cook is a committee member but says he feels frequently that smaller brokers' views are not represented. When discussing how brokers that are concerned about bad practices in the market can convince the Financial Services Authority to listen to them, Cook asserts: "There is meant to be a Biba discussion group about this but it's going nowhere."

Delite is confident about the future. Aiming to double its non-standard policies over the next two years, the broker is also considering taking on new staff in the future. Cook is pushing aggregators to recommend customers with a conviction to contact a specialist broker for the best possible policy, though so far his efforts have proved fruitless.

Cook sums up: "We'd like to stay within the niche market but rise above the rest. Our goals are to break the mould and get the prison services and charities to listen, to continue to help change lives and to never forget that our clients are people. Delite Insurance is a profitable business but it's not just financially rewarding, it's also morally correct."

DELITE INSURANCE AGENCY

Head of special commercial risks: Neil Cook

Established: 1984

Locations: Gillingham

Number of staff: 4

Main lines of business: Niche personal and commercial lines

Gross written premium: £2m.