Standout schemes deliver strong six-monthly earnings, but new business sees mixed momentum

Schemes brokers have continued to enjoy strong commission earnings over the past six months, but while the big three scheme types – SME package, commercial combined and commercial property owners – have posted reasonable returns for brokers, household, residential property owners and medical insurance schemes have proved to be this reporting period’s big winners.

These findings come from the latest Insurance Times Schemes Index, an analysis of premium, commission and renewals data supplied exclusively to Insurance Times by broker schemes software provider SchemeServe.

The most recent data – which represents the 20 largest schemes by gross written premium (GWP) on SchemeServe’s platform – showed that eight schemes had earned brokers over £1m in commission in the period between 1 September 2025 and 28 February 2026.

Total earnings were dominated by SME package schemes, reliably the highest earning scheme type included in this research, netting brokers £7.64m across the reporting period from a total written premium of £41.25m.

Commercial combined schemes, on the other hand, earned brokers £5.76m in commission from a total premium amount of £36.16m, while brokers delivering commercial property owners’ schemes brought in £4.43m from a GWP of £36.56m.

These big three schemes – which collectively account for over 50% of the written premium across the top 20 schemes on SchemeServe’s platform – netted brokers a combined £17.83m in commission, some £0.98m more than the same period one year ago.

Mike Petchey, head of schemes development at Markel UK, explained that the schemes market “continues to show strong and healthy performance, underlining its value as an effective way of doing business for brokers, customers and insurers alike.

“It is no surprise to see SME package, commercial combined and property owners continuing to generate the greatest volume of commission for brokers, given the scale and consistency of demand in those areas.” 

Residential property owners (£2.67m), household (£2.55m), professional indemnity (£1.75m), combined liability (£1.68m) and pubs and clubs (£1.21m) completed the list of schemes that crossed the £1m broker commission earnings threshold over the last six months.

Brokers involved in excess of loss liability, specialist combined, marine cargo, medical insurance and motor trade schemes all saw income top £500,000. Overall, the top 20 schemes listed by SchemeServe generated brokers over £32m in commission through £207m of written premium between September 2025 and February 2026.

Petchey said: “Within casualty lines, Markel’s primary area of focus, it is also encouraging to see more specialist covers performing well, with areas such as professional indemnity, combined liability, excess of loss liability and specialist combined delivering solid results for brokers.

“That points to a market with real depth, where well structured schemes, technical underwriting expertise and a clear understanding of the risks involved continue to support sustainable performance.”

Sam Houlden, head of schemes distribution at Axa, added that while market softening has taken longer to affect motor linked lines compared with other scheme types, as additional capacity has poured into the market, rates for motor schemes have dropped rapidly.

He continued: “We’re now seeing a steady increase in aggressive trading tactics being deployed, which is making both acquiring new business and maintaining retention rates challenging.

“At the larger end of the spectrum, we continue to write substantial volumes of property owners and package business, demonstrating our strength in these segments.”

Positive growth rates

Comparing earnings and premiums written between the last six months and the same six-month period one year ago, the majority of the highly ranked schemes saw positive growth.

Brokers involved in household schemes saw by far and away the strongest yearly return, enjoying a 95% growth in commission as the line’s GWP swelled by 78.2% between annual periods. Residential property owners’ schemes saw a similarly strong performance, surging in the last three months to deliver year-on-year commission and premium growth of 85.1% and 66.4% respectively.

Compared to these success stories, the big three schemes saw modest or flat performances, with SME package seeing premium climb by 2% and commission up by 2.3%, while commercial property owners’ schemes reported a premium fall of 0.2% and a commission drop of 0.4%.

Commercial combined brokers, however, will have been pleased to watch commission earnings swell by 16.8% amid a written premium growth of 14.5%.

Conversely, motor trade schemes saw commission drop by 13.1% and premium drop by 5.6%, while pubs and clubs schemes finished the reporting period more than 18% down in both premium and commission.

Houlden explained that “broadly speaking, the property and casualty markets are somewhat more stable than motor or financial lines currently”, which have seen some “quite extreme shifts in the last 12 months”.

“The property and casualty markets are typically more crowded. Product quality and proposition are crucial as customers become increasingly discerning in their buying habits,” he added.

New business stutter

Looking ahead, however, there may be tentative signs that the growth enjoyed by the majority of scheme lines may be at risk of stalling.

First premium counts in the last six months – an analogue for new business – have generally fallen compared to the previous year. Indeed, only residential property owners (101.4%) has seen markedly more first premiums in the last six months than the same period one year ago.

Excess of loss liability, commercial property owners, SME package and combined liability saw more modest growth of less than 10%, while household (-11.2%), professional indemnity (-16.2%), motor trade (-16.3%), commercial combined (-24.9%), pubs and clubs (-40.3%) and specialist combined (-51.6%) saw big drops in new business.

While these falls could be offset by high retention rates among existing customers, they supply worrying evidence that growth among these lines may be set to stall.