An employment tribunal has thrown out former Aascent sales and marketing director Simon Horswell's case for unfair dismissal

Horswell said that in order to limit the liability of Aascent, the three founding directors, including himself, had been employed as independent consultants until December 2003, when they changed to permanent employee status.

This meant that he had not completed 12 months of employment at the time he left the company in August this year. Horswell said his departure was "not for personal reasons" as previously stated by Aascent.

Horswell now plans to establish a consultancy business with former Benfield premium finance chief executive Jeff Smith.

Horswell said they were looking at a number of opportunities, which could include offering premium finance advice to both individual and corporate clients.

"We won't be sticking with only one market," he said. "We will be diverse, and not just looking at the insurance market."

The 2025 Insurance Times Awards took place on the evening of Wednesday 3rd December in the iconic Great Room of London’s Grosvenor House.

Hosted by comedian and actor Tom Allen, 34 Gold, 23 Silver and 22 Bronze awards were handed out across an amazing 34 categories recognising brilliance and innovation right across the breadth of UK general insurance.
Many congratulations to all the worthy winners and as always, huge thanks to our sponsors for their support and our judges for their expertise.

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