The division accounts for around 83% of UK General’s business by gross written premium 

Karen Beales UKG

UK General has hired Fenchurch Advisory Partners to handle the sale of its personal lines schemes business.

The division which is led by Karen Beales (pictured), accounts for about 83% of UK General’s business by gross written premium (GWP).

UK General’s GWP growth in the year to 31 March 2015 was mainly driven by its personal lines schemes business – the largest of the three business units which also include Rural Insurance and the commercial arm, One Commercial.

Schemes GWP increased by 7% to £362m (2013/2014: £338m), which UK General chief executive Peter Hubbard attributed to making new hires in the schemes team, increasing the number of active schemes to 550 and boosting the number of scheme intermediaries to 140.

The schemes division also got a boost from UK General’s Schemes Seat initiative, a Dragon’s Den-style project where brokers pitch scheme ideas and the successful brokers get a share of a £100,000 investment fund from UK General. There are now four schemes from the initiative up and running, with more in the pipeline.

Hubbard told Insurance Times in April that the company wanted to get to 10% growth for schemes but acknowledged that achieving that would be difficult because of the size of the existing book and the amount of competition in the market.

UK General has declined to comment.