What moments in your career have most shaped the way you lead today as Head of Health and Protection at Broadstone?

I’ve been fortunate to have worked with some incredibly talented leaders during my career – during my time working for insurance providers and in the second half of my career working in the intermediary market. They were all different in their own way, but what they all had in common were high levels of situational awareness and emotional intelligence, which allowed them to tailor their leadership style to the needs of the moment and the strengths of their team members. That is something I’ve always tried to learn from and emulate as much as possible.

In terms of ‘moments’, as with many senior leaders of my generation, the standout moment will always be the Covid-19 pandemic. The need to transition a whole business to homeworking overnight, while making sure we kept communicating with clients and looked after the wellbeing of our colleagues, was a challenge on a scale none of us had dealt with before. We had to move at incredible pace, while all the time dealing with uncertainty and ‘known unknowns’. That period really brought home to me the importance of frequent, clear communication, and the need to delegate effectively and to have trust in your colleagues and your team. I’ve never lost sight of the lessons we learned during that time.

How have client expectations around health, protection, and wellbeing evolved over the course of your career, and how have you adapted to keep pace?

There’s been a clear shift from health, wellbeing, and protection being seen as nice-to-have employee benefits to attract and retain staff, to being a core driver of business performance. That’s accelerated in recent years, as the NHS has lurched from crisis to crisis and has struggled to bring down waiting lists.

If employees cannot access fast diagnosis and treatment, they are more likely to be working unproductively while unwell or to be signed off sick. They will take far longer to recover from illness and are ultimately at more risk of dropping out of the workforce completely.

Many employees now recognise that health and protection benefits are no longer just ‘benefits’; they have become an essential part of their people asset risk management strategy.

We’ve also seen the advent of the truly multi-generation workforce, the move to home and hybrid working, and the rise of the diversity and equality agenda, all of which have driven demand for more personalised benefits offerings to cater for the needs of a wider range of employees.

Our approach to benefits consultancy has constantly evolved to keep pace with these changing market dynamics, in recent years, with far greater emphasis on wellbeing and ill-health prevention, flexible benefit programmes, and employee engagement. Given the increased investment in these strategies, employers want to ensure that it’s not just about offering benefits, but making sure people also use and value them. That’s brought effective communication much more to the forefront.

It also means there’s a much greater focus on data as the foundation stone of high-quality, objective advice, and robust decision-making. At Broadstone, we’ve evolved our capabilities to deliver a data-driven, holistic approach that enables clients to implement strategies that are tailored, well-communicated, and that deliver real outcomes.

What is driving Broadstone’s recent growth, particularly in employee benefits consulting? Where are you focusing investment right now?

A big driver of Broadstone’s growth in employee benefits consulting has been the shift towards more flexible benefits. We’ve invested heavily in our flexible benefits platform because employers increasingly want to give people choice and flexibility. It helps them improve engagement, control costs, and make benefits more relevant to a diverse workforce.

There’s also still strong demand being driven by pressure on the NHS. While NHS waiting lists have driven higher claims on private medical insurance (PMI) schemes, which have in turn driven up premium costs, we still see strong demand for private healthcare solutions that can help maintain the health of the workforce.

Prevention has become a major focus, to try and reduce health risks within the workforce and tackle the long-term drivers of sickness absence and healthcare claims.

Prevention has become a major focus, to try and reduce health risks within the workforce and tackle the long-term drivers of sickness absence and healthcare claims

There is a growing focus on economic inactivity driven by ill health, and helping people stay in or return to work. That’s where products like income protection, early intervention, and rehabilitation support are becoming increasingly important, particularly as employers look at the wider productivity challenge.

So our investment priorities focus on bringing all of that together – strengthening our data analytics and flexible benefits capability so we can help clients design more personalised strategies that improve engagement and manage cost, while making sure we continue to expand our consulting team to ensure we have the best people to guide clients through that complexity and get to the outcomes they’re looking for.

As financial wellbeing, employee benefits, and risk management continue to overlap, how do you make sure clients receive a joined-up service across all workplace benefits?

The key starting point is recognising that all of these areas are inherently interconnected, and each plays a critical role in businesses’ long-term success.

Financial wellbeing, physical health, mental health – they don’t sit in silos in real life and nor do they in the workforce or in people’s personal lives. If someone’s struggling financially, that can very quickly impact their mental health, and in turn their productivity. Equally, poor physical health can have a knock-on effect across every aspect of finances, work, and emotional wellbeing.

At the same time, we have seen all benefit providers up their game in terms of embedded support services, meaning employees can be faced with a myriad of options when looking for wellbeing support.

So, a big part of our role is helping employers make sense of this complexity by combining different benefits in a way that provides a comprehensive support framework for their staff while simplifying access to appropriate pathways through clear signposting to avoid confusion. It’s about moving the conversation away from individual benefit products and towards a more holistic view of their workforce wellbeing strategy, including understanding where the pressure points are and how different types of support interact.

A big part of our role is helping employers make sense of this complexity by combining different benefits in a way that provides a comprehensive support framework for their staff while simplifying access to appropriate pathways through clear signposting to avoid confusion

In practice, that means bringing everything together into an integrated benefits programme, rather than a collection of separate products. At Broadstone, we focus on making sure clients have that joined-up view, so that their benefits, wellbeing, and risk strategies are all working in sync and genuinely supporting both their people and their business outcomes.

Looking ahead over the next 12–24 months, where do you see the biggest risks and opportunities for insurers and intermediaries in the UK market?

Looking ahead, there’s evidently a mix of both challenge and opportunity for insurers and intermediaries.

On the risk side, rising healthcare claims have pushed PMI premiums up, putting pressure on employers and benefit providers alike. While there are positive signs that we have passed the peak of general medical inflation, and claims incidence rates have levelled off, the cost of cancer claims remains a persistent headwind on cost, especially the cost of personalised drug therapies that can result in high-value claims lasting several years.

The wider economic landscape is also challenging for employers, with increases in employment costs putting pressure on benefits budgets, and uncertainty the new certainty when it comes to the global economic ‘weather’.

Overlaying this, policy and workforce developments such as the Keep Britain Working Review are likely to create renewed momentum around employer responsibility for workforce health, which could have a material knock-on impact on demand. And in anticipation of that rising demand we’re seeing a lot of innovation coming through – both in terms of new products and how services are delivered – especially around faster access to care and more proactive support.

For advisers like us, the opportunity really lies in helping clients navigate that balance of managing cost pressures while also making the most of the innovation in the market and ensuring they’re putting in place solutions that are sustainable and genuinely meet the needs of their workforce.

How is the growing focus on health, wellbeing, and preventative support changing what employers expect from insurers and advisers?

Employers are no longer just looking for cover when something goes wrong, they want support that helps prevent issues in the first place, whether that’s through early intervention, wellbeing initiatives, or faster access to primary care and diagnostics.

Alongside that, there’s a much stronger focus on return on investment. These decisions are being looked at strategically to support wider business goals, which means expectations are higher. Clients are looking for more insight, clearer outcomes, and solutions that genuinely add value to the organisation as whole, and they want to understand the impact of these health strategies, whether that’s in terms of absence, productivity or retention.

This has driven a profound shift in focus when it comes to market reviews and provider comparisons – whereas once these focused primarily on benefit levels and cost, they now focus much more sharply on the breadth and depth of the insurers’ support services. As a result, provider selection decisions are increasingly being made on the basis of value, not just cost.

In what ways could digital tools reshape underwriting, claims, and employee engagement in protection products over the coming years?

Digital tools are set to play a big role in how health and protection products evolve. One of the most important shifts we’ve seen is the widespread adoption of digital clinical pathways. Digital services are improving access to support and can play an important role in faster intervention, particularly for straightforward or early-stage cases. Engagement remains the key challenge, so the real value depends on how well these services are communicated, embedded, and matched to employees’ needs.

At the same time, automation and digital processes are helping to strip out a lot of the admin. That makes it quicker and more straightforward for both employers and insurers to manage policies and handle claims, which is a real positive.

Automation and digital processes are helping to strip out a lot of the admin. That makes it quicker and more straightforward for both employers and insurers to manage policies and handle claims, which is a real positive

What’s also interesting is how digital channels are improving the feedback loop between employees, employers, and insurers. Through apps and online platforms, you can get real-time insight into how benefits are being used – what people value, where there might be frustrations, and where support isn’t quite hitting the mark. That gives employers a much clearer, data-led view of their workforce health.

As engagement with these tools continues to grow, those insights can then feed back into shaping strategy, whether that’s product design, wellbeing support, or the claims experience. Ultimately, it leads to a more responsive and tailored approach that better reflects what employees need and value.

If someone were entering the insurance and employee benefits sector today, what would you say matters most for long-term success?

For all the growth the sector has seen, this is still a relatively small industry, so always treat people with respect, whether they are clients, colleagues, peers or competitors, as you never know who you might find yourself working with in a year from now!

And look for opportunities to stretch yourself. If you find yourself in a comfortable role, where you know all the answers and you don’t feel any pressure, it’s time for something new.