President's Message - June 2020

The last few months have flown by whilst I have been getting to grips with the tasks involved in taking over the Presidential role as well as getting into a new routine of working from home.

Like many people I have experienced highs and lows in lockdown; I have enjoyed the slower pace of life, not having the daily commute and saving a few extra pennies. However, I have struggled with missing loved ones, a lack of motivation to exercise and the ability to switch off from work. As a council we have been sharing our lockdown experiences with you via our blog, to find out what we have been up to visit our website.

Young Professionals Group

We recognise that it is more important than ever to look after your mental & physical wellbeing. You may have seen that for the month of July our YPG are leading an initiative inspired by Lloyds of London to complete an action each day that is designed to improve your overall wellbeing.

We would love you to get involved by sharing your action-a-day on social media and tagging us! If you are not already following us on LinkedIn, make sure you do to see our council members completing the monthly challenge.

Our Young Professionals Group are in the midst of planning a Virtual Quiz, so watch out for details over the next few weeks!

Educational Events

I would like to say a huge thank you to our Education Secretary Nathan Harvey, his predecessor Johanna Mulley, and the rest of the committee for reacting so well to the restrictions of Covid-19 by continuing to provide a selection of topical, interesting CPD sessions.

In the month of June alone we provided:

• 2 session’s of Directors & Officers Insurance in a plain English nutshell
• Covid-19 crisis and the shape of the recovery
• Lessons from an Olympian on maintaining performance through adversity.

We were pleased to be working alongside our Norwich and Cambridge Institutes on the ‘maintaining performance through adversity’ webinar. We would like to thank them for their participation and look forward to collaborating with further events in the future.

We have received some great feedback from our recent webinars, it is important that you continue to communicate with us to ensure that we are providing a CPD programme that you want.

Forthcoming Events to watch out for:

• It’s not what you gain it’s what you keep (Helping your client’s tackle/ reduce their Capital Gain’s Tax)
• How general insurance can cope financially as a result of coronavirus.
• The Perfect Storm - how capacity is disappearing fast from the UK insurance market.
• Protection focused CPD- helping you make up those 15 hours!

If you are not receiving our emails about upcoming CPD sessions, please check your marketing preference’s by logging into your CII/PFS account.

Insurance Charities

I am supporting The Insurance Charities this year, as our council and I believe they are a valuable resource of help and support dedicated to our insurance community.

How do they help?

One-off payments

By financing an essential item such as equipment to help someone with reduced mobility, property adaptation work which cannot be funded by local or central government, the replacement of an appliance or essential property maintenance.

Ongoing payments

By giving regular support where income is generally restricted or insufficient to meet higher than average costs resulting from, say, health conditions.

Practical support and advice

By signposting individuals to specialist advice during difficult life events such as depression or loneliness as well as giving practical support to those with difficult health, money management and housing concerns.

For more information or to find out if you are eligible for support, visit their website:

https://www.theinsurancecharities.org.uk/

Council Members

I would really love to have more PFS members representing our council to ensure that we are able to continue to provide you with a diverse CPD programme. If you are interested in getting involved, please email me for more information laura.blyth@brewin.co.uk.

We are looking forward to seeing you soon

We have lots of exciting ideas and events that we want to share with you, it may be a little while before we can do so, but rest assured that we are still working behind the scenes to ensure that our return is better than ever.

Please continue to stay safe and follow government guidelines as our shops, restaurants, pubs, and offices begin to re-open.

Your President

Laura Blyth