Broker schemes data shows overarching commission growth stutter

Scheme brokers saw a slight drop in their overall commission earnings between 1 September 2024 and 28 February 2025 as scheme growth was inconsistent across lines of business – however, household scheme growth has benefited from MGA players and commercial focused schemes have reaped the majority of commission value, according to the latest Insurance Times Schemes Index, published in March 2025.

The Insurance Times Schemes Index is based on exclusive data provided by broker schemes software provider SchemeServe.

According to this data, which covers 27 different scheme lines, overall premiums – including first and renewal premiums for the schemes housed on SchemeServe’s platform – increased by 12% across the latest six months versus the previous six month period between March and August 2024.

This “growth might be expected in the current inflationary environment,” noted SchemeServe chief executive Adam Bishop.

He told Insurance Times: “The latest set of data presents a mixed bag, but overall, the key takeaway has to be that brokers are doing more schemes business and [they] continue to grow and find opportunities in these niche lines.”

Three schemes generated the majority of commission value for brokers in the aforementioned reporting period – this included SME package, commercial combined and commercial property owners.

Together, these schemes accounted for £16.9m in commission earnings across the period, up from £16.1m in the previous period. They generated £14.4m in the same reporting period one year ago and two years ago, they brought in £11.5m of commission for brokers.

These three schemes have been the highest earning schemes for each reporting period over the last two years. Bishop said this was evidence of “the strong earning position of these lines and a reliable growth in income”.

Five other schemes earned over £1m in the most recent reporting period. These are professional indemnity, combined liability, pubs and clubs, residential property owners and household.

Mixed growth performance

Stagnation in overall commission earnings, however, was largely due to mixed growth rates across the schemes available via SchemeServe’s platform.

Household schemes saw the largest growth in commission value between the current six month period and the previous six months, with this increasing 23.4% between these periods. Compared to the same reporting period last year, broker commission for household schemes only grew 9%, while two years ago, commission growth on household schemes had boosted 60%.

SchemeServe suggested that this strong growth was likely “due to new MGAs with large household books of business coming onto the platform”.

Marine cargo schemes also performed well period-on-period, with a 14% increase in commission value between September 2024 and February 2025. This marked an improvement on the year-on-year performance – two years ago, this scheme type only grew 2% during this reporting window and for 2023/24, commission value had actually decreased 5%.

Other strong performers in terms of commission growth on a six monthly basis included commercial combined at 12% and pubs and clubs at 7%.

The worst performing schemes period-on-period, however, were specialist combined (-17.8%), residential property owners (-22.1%), caravan and trailer (-25.9%) and cyber liability (-63.3%).

The schemes that saw a year-on-year commission increase according to the latest data were commercial combined (31.9%), excess of loss liability (30.8%), motor trade (20.8%), combined liability (19.6%), commercial property owners (19.2%), contractors’ all risks (14.2%), household (9%), SME package (8.4%), pubs and clubs (6%) and employers’ liability (3.9%).

Of these schemes, all saw a commensurate increase in premiums, except commercial property owners, which recorded a decrease in premiums of 24%.

The schemes that saw a year-on-year commission decrease were professional indemnity (-0.6%), caravan and trailer (-1.4%), specialist combined (-2%), personal accident (-2.7%), marine cargo (-4.6%), medical insurance (-6.9%), public liability (-8%), residential property owners (-15.9%) and cyber liability (-61%).

Likewise, each scheme that saw a fall in commission value also saw a fall in premium values – except for specialist combined and public liability schemes, which recorded 10.5% and 8.6% premium increases respectively.

Renewals gain while first premiums slip

Renewals drove the majority of commission value increases between the current six-month period and the previous six months. Despite an overall decline in policy count of 1,110 across all schemes included in the data, renewal premiums improved by £3,650,000, leading to an increase of £615,000 in commission generated from renewals.

Commercial combined, personal indemnity, household and commercial property owners schemes saw the biggest growth in renewal premiums.

First premiums recorded a drop in policy count of 7,669 between the two reporting periods, as well as a drop in value of £20,486,000. Commission from first premiums therefore fell £647,000 period-on-period.

The best performing schemes in terms of first premium commission growth were pubs and clubs, contractors’ all risks and marine cargo. Bishop suggested this may indicate “market movement and shopping around on these lines”.

Overall, between the current period and the previous period, 11 of the 27 scheme types saw a commission increase of 0.79% or higher, with 11 lines seeing a first premium commission increase and a separate 13 seeing a renewal premium increase.

Compared to the same reporting period one year ago, 14 out of 27 schemes saw an increase above 3.91%, 14 lines noted a first premium increase and 16 saw a renewal premium increase.

Over a two-year time frame, 19 out of 27 schemes saw a commission increase of 1.62% or higher, 16 lines recorded a first premium commission increase and 14 achieved a renewal premium commission increase.