Credit Hire Organisation chair Kirsty McKno steps down

Current chair of UK trade association the Credit Hire Organisation (CHO) Kirsty McKno has stepped down following a four-year term.

Upon her departure, McKno has announced a new CHO Constitution, which includes a refreshed leadership structure for the trade body. Moving forward, the CHO will be overseen by a strategic board, comprised of senior executives from the CHO’s member companies.

The board, which has been created in line with the CHO’s ongoing modernisation process, will assume control from 5 November.

McKno explained: “The strategic board, which takes over on 5 November, is the next step in further professionalising the CHO and will ensure that the trade body continues to lead on behalf of its members during this very challenging period for the claims industry.

“The board will help connect and align those at the very top of our industry with the daily challenges faced by our members and the hundreds of thousands of customers they serve each year.”

Once the strategic board has been established, it will consider how the trade association will be set up and organised.

McKno, meanwhile, plans to stay working within the credit hire sector – she currently acts as a consultant to a number of companies operating in the claimant sector. “Credit hire is an exciting and fascinating industry and I will be closely involved in its future,” she emphasised.

Significant changes

McKno added that during her tenure at the CHO, she had managed to achieve “significant changes”, including making it more professional, improving governance, and pursuing a policy of positive engagement with stakeholders across the industry, government and the media.

“Credit hire is complex and poorly understood by many people in the claims industry, let alone the general public, but it fulfils a vital service for consumers needing mobility after an accident,” she said.

“We have worked hard to educate stakeholders about credit hire. In professionalising the organisation, we have carved out our seat at the claims industry table to ensure our members’ interests and concerns are properly taken account of by regulators, policy makers and officials, as well as insurers.”

A particular highlight for McKno has been how General Terms of Agreement (GTA) subscribers, namely insurers and credit hire companies, have supported motor claims during the Covid-19 lockdown period. The GTA is a voluntary protocol that is used to manage replacement vehicle motor claims.

She added: “Signing such an agreement would have been unthinkable five to 10 years ago, but the lockdown showed how closely interconnected we are in the claims industry and it was important to find agreement with insurers so that claims could be settled and customers had mobility.”