00:00
Consolidation has [music] reshaped UK insurance broking for a decade, but the deal machine is stalling. [music] Three years running and on track for a fourth.

00:11
Even some of the biggest serial acquirers have quietly [music] paused their UK deal making this year according to Marshbury. So while the consolidation

00:19
Machine idles, we spoke to a group of independent [music] brokers who never planned to sell in the first place and asked them why. We were very filled to put

00:27
Our [music] line in the sand back in 2023. We we had never had any intention of selling the [music] business.

00:32
Thomas Carol, 180 people, seven offices, didn't just say no to a sale. They restructured to make it harder to reverse.

00:40
The employee ownership trust model [music] was was one that we felt worked uh worked for us.

00:45
He's watched plenty of friends in the industry take the other route.

00:48
The promise is [music] that nothing will change until suddenly everything's changed.

00:51
Thomas Carol isn't alone in choosing that [music] route. Employee ownership trusts have quietly become one of the UK's fastest-growing succession models.

01:00
Thousands of businesses now operate [music] this way and hundreds more join every year. For Peter Robinson, 44 years in the [music] job, it's less about structure, more about what he'd lose.

01:10
You lose autonomy. You can lose being yourself. He's not immune to a number though.

01:15
Somebody came along to me tomorrow and offered me 10 trillion [music] pounds sterling, tax paid. I might be inclined to consider it. But um in all

01:24
honesty, this is what I've done for 44 years [music] now.

01:26
Martin Castleton set up on his own 3 years ago. For him, independence isn't a defense. It's the advantage. [music] Being an independent broker means you

01:34
own a business. It's your decision. It's the best decision I ever did was set up on my own.

01:39
Duncan Spencer says the real selling point is one insurers and consolidators [music] can't easily match. Certainty.

01:45
It's being able to look the client in the eye and say, "I fully intend to be here next year. We're [music] not about to change our name."

01:52
Alan Tate Smith left a large corporate broker to start his own business this year. He says clients notice the difference.

01:58
The really good [music] clients, the ones that aren't looking race the bottom on price will will put some value to that that stability, that loyalty, that that simple communication.

02:08
No shareholders to satisfy, [music] no funding cycles to hit. Just as Gareth Cotty puts it, we're all in control of our own destiny.

02:14
[music] With deal volumes at a three-year low and independence models like EOTS on the rise, the sell or be swallowed narrative may [music] not tell the whole story of UK broking anymore.

02:25
That's this week's panel. Thanks for joining us on IBTV. [music] More independent broker conversations coming soon.