Gauntlet De-Authorisation Fast-Track FAQs

You will be able to be your own boss. You will have freedom and independence and can create your own schedule and hours. This provides flexibility around your family or hobbies. As long as you put the hours in, it doesn’t matter when you work.

You can also escape office politics and possibly a commute that has been imposed since your original employer was bought out.

Many of our ARs wanted to escape a regime that served clients poorly, so you can do that and set your own standards. You can also place the risks you want to work with.

The very fact that we have created Gauntlet De-authorisation Fast-track (GDF) should answer this.  Many insurance brokers strive to become directly authorised and then find they cannot get insurer agencies.  The premium income requirements of insurers, in return for agencies, have rocketed and it is just not possible for many brokers to meet them.

The industry view is that it is now almost impossible for a start-up broker to succeed as a directly authorised broker.  To build a business, you need time and you cannot afford to have that time eaten up by compliance, administration, accounting and IT.

If you do push down the directly authorised route, it is also a big outlay for a new business and you could be waiting many months, before you gain authorisation.

Direct authorisation used to be the way.  The modern-day way to run an insurance brokerage is the appointed representative route.  We can give you two options on that.  Straight into life as an AR from a career as an account executive, or entry into our Gauntlet Brokerage Builder programme.

1. Phenomenal access to market and first-class insurer relationships
2. Huge buying power
3. Good commissions
4. Excellent IT systems, tailored by Gauntlet and powered by Acturis
5. Dedicated support team wholly focused on partnering in an AR’s growth
6. Professional Indemnity insurance
7. Gauntlet’s excellent brand and market reputation
8. Working with a trustworthy, ethical network principal
9. Sales leads validated and provided by the in-house direct sales team and online quote-and-buy facility provided
10. Continual growth opportunities, powered by business development and three sales meetings/conferences per year
11. Opportunity to tap into the benefits of Gauntlet’s membership of Brokerbility
12. Built-in exit route

Absolutely. Many of Gauntlet’s appointed representatives do and some even work from abroad at certain times of year. Our access to IT systems is 24/7 and information is accessible from anywhere. If you do want an office, that’s your choice but it is not necessary.

The support that our team provides to brokers is first-class and we regularly receive huge amounts of praise when it comes to what they have done to help account executives or de-authorising brokers get a handle on how the IT system works. The training is easy to grasp and delivered in a way that enables the user to do whatever they need to do, at that particular point of time. Even if you are a technophobe, you will cope and nobody will be overwhelmed or left stranded.

We have moved across many clients files on to our systems and the process is pretty seamless. Nobody has been adversely affected, whether clients have moved on to our system because an AR broker has switched networks or because a directly authorised broker has de-authorised and become an AR broker with Gauntlet.

We typically complete the entire GDF process in around 8 weeks, giving our GDF brokers a rebirth around two months after they have decided to relight their own fire and become an appointed representative.

Gauntlet helps its local brokers place risks of any size, across a wide range of sectors. Typical values are as follows, although many other examples exist:

• £1m motor fleets
• £1m motor trade
• £1m construction projects
• £500k professional indemnity
• £500k property owners
• £500k manufacturing
• £250k right of light

All AR brokers are matched to a broker manager, with them every step of their journey. They assist with the AR’s broking needs but also mentor them and give moral support, as they build their business. However, there is a whole support team beyond these broker managers and individuals from that wider team will also step in to fuel an AR broker’s growth, whenever they have a skill to match the appointed representative’s need. Our aim is to nurture ARs and ensure their business ventures are a success. We are true partners, not just an umbrella organisation offering support services and no more than that.

Applications for Gauntlet Brokerage Builder can be accepted all year round, although the programme start dates are fixed for certain times of year.  Send your application to RogerGaunt@gauntletgroup.com or talk to your local recruiter and ask them to put you forward.

We would like our first Broking Partner Designates to work from Leeds, as it will enable us to monitor needs in a very precise way and provide all the day-to-day mentoring required.  We will then know exactly what support those working remotely, in tranche 2 and beyond, require.  However, if this really is an issue and you desperately wish to join tranche 1, discuss it with us.  Email RogerGaunt@gauntletgroup.com

No. We also have an in-house personal lines broking team, which assists many of those account executives who are joining us from a personal lines background. Many of our de-authorising local brokers also have large personal lines books. We are investing heavily in our personal lines team, so you can have every confidence that we can handle this type of business and that any commercial clients, who have high net worth insurance needs, can also find first-class solutions.

Far from it. We are headquartered in Leeds but our network stretches from Scotland to London and right into the heart of regions such as the southwest and Wales. We attract appointed representatives on the basis of the exceptional package we can offer them, as a business partner, not because of our geographical location.