UNA Alliance

Customer service excellence. It’s that Mecca that every business – well most, anyway – aim to achieve. Customer expectations and requirements are always changing and organisations need to change with them. Change has certainly happened over the past couple of years, but statistics show that this is perhaps not always in the right direction. 

When it comes to the overall customer service picture, UK consumers are fed up with companies using Covid as an excuse for bad service. Fact. The UK Institute of Customer Service reports that, in their survey of 10,000 consumers, the number of complaints about poor service in the last six months was at its highest level since 2009.

Having been postponed last year - along, with pretty much everything else - we're delighted to announce that applications are now open for this year's UNA Achievement and Newcomer Awards.

Open to employees from all our Member firms, the awards seek to recognise those who have truly made a difference.

We're also delighted to announce that UNA Partner Insurer, NIG will be sponsoring these awards.

All awards will be presented at this year's UNA Conference on 11 November, so good luck to all!

UNA Member, T L Dallas has announced the opening of its new North Yorkshire Division.

Headed by experienced duo Simon Drew and Mark Wilding, Dallas Wilding Drew has opened in Settle, North Yorkshire.

The pair have a combined total of more than 50 years of corporate insurance, personal insurance, and risk management experience between them.

As part of the wider TL Dallas group, Dallas Wilding Drew has the capability to offer a wide range of insurance services for both businesses and individuals. 

The new operation will service customers in the local area and further afield, utilising TL Dallas’s size and scale across its extensive UK office network.

Tim Mortimer, Commercial Managing Director at Bradford-headquartered TL Dallas, said:

“We are thrilled to welcome Mark and Simon to the TL Dallas group. They are both first rate operators with extensive knowledge, experience and networks, and will provide valuable services to the local community.  The opening of our new North Yorkshire office is in line with our strategy of attracting high quality individuals and expanding our footprint to help us achieve our growth aspirations.  This move means we can continue to offer our clients the best service possible through our independent operating model.”

Simon Drew said:

“Our focus as trusted advisers is to deliver the best value for money that we can for our clients across general commercial and corporate insurance.  We have exciting plans for growth and Mark and I are looking forward to delivering on this as part of the TL Dallas family.”

Mark Wilding added:

“Both Simon and I have been given an incredible opportunity to build a business with TL Dallas under the Dallas Wilding Drew brand. We had been exploring opportunities to launch a venture together and following conversations with the TL Dallas board, the Dallas Wilding Drew proposition evolved. We are delighted to be part of such a successful group whose values are aligned with our own, and we’re looking forward to celebrating many successes together over the coming years.”  

Mark and Simon previously worked together at Marsh Commercial. 

As we jump further into Spring 2021, we’re starting our focus on our UNA Alliance people – the energy behind everything we do. UNA is a concentration of independent brokers, coming together to build unified, strong foundations for our customers to rely on.

Many of our members are family businesses and, with a focus on this and putting a spotlight on women in insurance, too, who better to start our series of Bringing All Together Better People interviews than Polly Staveley – MD of TL Dallas and an active member of the UNA Alliance board as well.