Insurance broker Lycetts has helped stage two charity sports days for more than 400 schoolchildren from Hull, as part of its partnership with Yorkshire Children’s Charity.
A total of 410 children attended the events at Burton Constable Hall on September 29 and 30, run by the charity as part of its Schools Out programme. The days were funded by Lycetts’ parent company, Benefact Group, and 22 Lycetts employees volunteered across both days.
Children took part in athletics, cricket with Yorkshire Cricket Foundation, football with Hull City Ladies and rugby with Wakefield Trinity. All the sporting organisations gave their time for free.
“The work Yorkshire Children’s Charity does to create opportunities and experiences for children who might otherwise miss out is remarkable, and it was wonderful to see that impact first-hand,” said Ian Barclay, chief executive of Lycetts.
Charlotte Hopkins, head of programme at Yorkshire Children’s Charity, said the events could not have happened without the support of Lycetts, both through funding and through having more than 20 of its staff on hand.
The sports days are part of a wider commitment. Earlier this year, Lycetts announced it would back the charity with £75,000 over three years, at £25,000 a year, to support its work with disadvantaged children and young people across Yorkshire.
The funding comes through Benefact Group’s Partnership Funding initiative, which also gives charities access to volunteering, webinars and project advice.
Lycetts, which is headquartered in Newcastle and specialises in rural, estate and equine insurance, is part of Benefact Group. Benefact is owned by a registered charity, Benefact Trust, and gives all its available profits to good causes.
In June, Benefact marked £250 million given to good causes since 2014, with a service of celebration at St Paul’s Cathedral. Its businesses also include specialist insurer Ecclesiastical.
For the wider broking market, initiatives like this have taken on a commercial dimension, because the sector is struggling to attract people.
Talent attraction and retention is now UK brokers’ top priority, ahead of AI, emerging risks and regulation, according to a survey of brokers at this year’s BIBA conference. As Insurance Business reported in June, 40% ranked talent first. Aviva’s Broker Barometer found 72% of UK brokers are actively hiring, while the Chartered Insurance Institute has found only 4% of young people express interest in an insurance career.
Benefact’s own research points to purpose as part of the answer. A 2025 survey of 250 brokers by Ecclesiastical found that half struggle to recruit people aged 30 and under, and 48% feel insurance is not seen as an attractive career. At the time, Ecclesiastical’s managing director argued that younger people want work that gives them a sense of purpose, and that brokers need to be clear about their values to compete, as IB reported.
Visible community work, such as 22 staff spending two days with schoolchildren rather than a cheque presented at a dinner, gives brokers a concrete way to show those values to potential recruits.
Lycetts is not alone. Earlier this month, Lockton staff raised more than £275,000 for Alzheimer’s Society. The industry-wide Insurance United Against Dementia campaign drew more than 3,000 colleagues from 152 businesses to last year’s Insurance Day for Dementia.
For independent and regional brokers competing for staff with larger consolidators, community partnerships offer a relatively low-cost way to stand out. They give local firms a story that is harder for national groups to replicate, and they connect brokers with the schools and communities their future recruits come from.
The value lies in consistency. A one-off donation is easily forgotten. A multi-year partnership with regular staff involvement, like Lycetts’ three-year commitment, is more likely to shape how a broker is seen by clients, staff and the next generation it needs to hire.
