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Threadbare safety nets

November 2024

Jim Islam, Chief Executive Officer

It’s been two years since Beagle Street joined the OneFamily Group, bringing a highly recognisable insurance brand under the wing of one of the UK’s largest financial mutuals.

The days of cradle-to-grave social security protections are gone.

The public purse is looking increasingly frayed around the edges, and younger generations are starting to question whether there’s going to be anything left for them when they reach old age.

But what about the gig economy?

According to a 2023 report from the CIPD, just under half a million people gain their income from temporary jobs. For a lot of people, it makes good sense – it’s flexible, can fit around the family and who wouldn’t want to be the master of their own destiny?

However, depending on the contract, there can be downsides such as a lack of holiday and sick pay for self-employed people and an income that is never certain.

Freelancers less likely to have a financial safety net

Our research suggests that the UK is facing a ‘life insurance equality gap’ as non-salaried workers - including freelancers, self-employed people and those on zero-hours contracts or hourly pay are significantly less likely to have cover than those with salaried jobs.

But for anyone on a lower income, the thought of paying a regular amount into an insurance policy, pension or investment might feel an impossible ask when their priorities are ensuring the bills are paid and that there’s food on the table.

"It means that the very people who need the most support have an even greater susceptibility to economic shocks – their income and expenditure might exist in a very fragile balance."

We’re helping more people protect their financial future

As a modern mutual, this matters to us. We are owned by our members, and we reinvest our profits into the company to support their needs.

So, we’re looking very closely at the difficulties faced by our customers in protecting themselves to see how we can help them with our Beagle Street insurance brand, which we acquired in 2022 for exactly this purpose.

"We’re using cutting-edge data and analytics to understand what families really need, so that we can develop better products and services that are tailored for our customers."

Right now, this means simple protection products with affordable premiums that give peace of mind from £6 per month*, but we are reviewing our data at a customer level and in real time to use these insights to develop our offer to support those who really need our help.

We see the difficulties that people are facing, we’ve shone a light on the threadbare safety nets that no longer support them and we’re doing something to help them.

It’s what being a mutual is all about.

Jim places great value on the importance of education, citing it as the foundation stone upon which social mobility can be built. As OneFamily’s CEO, he wants to hold out his hand of support to those who don’t know where to turn and to use his platform to lift people up and inspire them to fulfil their potential.

He encourages thinking big, having great aspirations and setting audacious goals to free potential. With education, encouragement and empowerment he thinks that any child can achieve their biggest and most colourful of dreams.

Jim was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of financial mutual, OneFamily, in December 2023.

OneFamily is the UK’s third largest mutual with over 2m customers.

* Based on a 30 year old non-smoker, £200K decreasing term cover for 20 years.