Brokers post healthy schemes profits amid uneven growth picture

Schemes brokers have seen varied results across the past six months of trading, with large schemes continuing to post healthy profits despite mixed year-on-year growth performances.

And the big three schemes – SME package, commercial combined and commercial property owners – offer a reflection of overall market’s performance divergence, with commercial combined brokers boasting a 15% yearly growth in commission as their rival schemes both shrank by over 5%.

These insights come from the latest Insurance Times Schemes Index, a quarterly report into the performance of major insurance schemes, based on exclusive data supplied by broker schemes software provider SchemeServe.

Despite a 5.17% year-on-year commission growth fall, SME package remained the most profitable major scheme, netting brokers a £7.56m income from a total written premium of £41.02m.

Off the back of a 15.48% yearly commission uptick, commercial combined brokers brought in £6.37m from a written premium of £39.7m, while commercial property owners shrank by 5.63% to earn £4.91m from a written premium of £41.6m.

Brokers operating in household (£3.04m), residential property owners (£2.84m), professional indemnity (£2.63m), combined liability (£1.91m), specialist combined (£1.02m) and pubs and clubs (£1.01m) schemes all also earned over £1m in commission across the six-month period.

Despite the variability seen in this period’s index, schemes have consistently performed well over recent years, and these strong returns have been reflected in new entrants’ appetite to bring propositions to market.

At the beginning of October 2026, MGA Commercial Express launched a new delegated authority schemes division with the stated aim of “giving brokers access to specialist underwriting expertise, capacity and the ability to develop and bring new schemes to market”.

Managing director at Commercial Express, Duncan Pritchard, explained that the firm had identified a pipeline for specialist and niche schemes opportunities after being “approached by brokers with opportunities for delegated authority schemes that we have not previously had the capability, experience or capacity to support”.

“Our aim is to provide a business that brokers can work with quickly and flexibly, backed by excellent capacity and the underwriting expertise needed to develop sustainable schemes,” he added.

Sam Houlden, head of schemes distribution at Axa Insurance UK, told Insurance Times that the schemes market “continues to offer significant growth potential”, but added that for Axa the opportunity “isn’t simply about chasing volume”.

He explained: “We’re particularly interested in areas where specialist expertise, strong distribution and a clearly defined customer need come together. That includes underserved and emerging niches, where delegated authorities and MGAs can provide solutions that are difficult to replicate effectively in the open market.

”Recent areas we’ve considered include sectors such as renewable energy, bonds and specialist SME propositions.”

Mixed growth performances

Like the big three schemes, the wider market also underwent mixed performances, with approximately half of major schemes seeing a growth in written premium and half a contraction.

Medical insurance schemes proved this half-year’s big winner, seeing a 101.83% uplift in premium to £3.13m across the period. Household – which grew 64.9% to £18.6m – marine cargo – which grew 46.62% to £4.25m – and professional indemnity – up 15.66% to £13.4m – also grew markedly year-on-year.

Meanwhile, pubs and clubs schemes saw the biggest drop in written premium, down 26.9% to £5.58m, while motor trade – which fell 17.17% to £6.59m – combined liability – down 9.73% to £12m – caravan and trailer – falling 8.08% to £985,000 – and cyber liability – down 8.01% to £1.37m – also saw large premium falls.

Michael Petchey, head of delegated and portfolio solutions at Markel UK, highlighted the growth potential across the breadth of the market, saying: “We see strong growth opportunities in the UK commercial schemes market and are keen to work with brokers and MGAs across a broad range of sectors.

“We expect the schemes market to continue growing as MGAs expand into new customer segments, including emerging industries and highly regulated sectors where insurance needs are constantly evolving.

“However, long term success will depend on developing propositions that offer genuine value to customers. MGAs that invest in specialist expertise, strong relationships and have long-term growth ambitions will be better placed to succeed than those focused on short term opportunities.”

In Houlden’s view, the recent success of the schemes market will see it continue to attract attention from new and existing players alike, but the innovation in the sector may come in two distinct forms.

He said: “I think we’ll see two trends developing simultaneously. There will continue to be demand for highly specialist schemes because expertise and customer insight create genuine value.

“But distribution is also becoming broader as consolidation, technology and evolving delegated authority models give successful propositions access to larger audiences. The winners will combine niche expertise with scalable distribution.”

He continued: “The relationships between insurers, brokers, MGAs and scheme administrators are changing too. The traditional boundaries are becoming less rigid, with delegated authority partners increasingly keen on taking greater ownership of underwriting, product design and customer outcomes.

“For me, that means the future is focused on collaboration. The strongest partnerships will bring together the insurer’s scale, capacity and technical capabilities with the specialist knowledge, entrepreneurialism and distribution of our partners. Schemes have always been about combining those strengths, and I believe that makes them particularly well placed for the next phase of the market.”

Likewise, Petchey concluded: “For Markel, the priority is finding the right partners and working together to develop solutions that meet their customers’ requirements. We remain a specialist insurer but are open to exploring new opportunities across the commercial market, including areas we may not have considered previously.”