Scheme brokers see double digit year-on-year commission growth – but momentum slows

Scheme brokers saw strong growth in their commission earnings between 1 December 2024 and 31 May 2025 compared to the same period the year before, according to the Insurance Times Schemes Index, published in July 2025.

The Insurance Times Schemes Index is compiled from exclusive data supplied by broker schemes software provider SchemeServe, providing detailed premium, renewal and commission figures across 19 major schemes, as well as aggregated data from a further 500 scheme types.

According to the latest figures, SchemeServe’s platform saw total premium growth of 1.46% between the latest six-month period – 1 December 2024 to 31 May 2025 – and the previous six-month period – 1 June 2024 to 30 November 2024 – which SchemeServe chief executive Adam Bishop said was “a change as might be expected in the current environment”.

Across the 19 major schemes covered by this index – including commercial combined, professional indemnity and pubs and clubs, to name a few – brokers saw a slight fall in commission earned between the current and previous six-month periods, with schemes on average recording a drop of 0.7% in commission earned.

This fall, however, represented only a stutter in a longer-term trend of growth. Indeed, the total commissions earned by brokers across the 19 schemes climbed 13.45% when compared to the same period one year ago.

Three schemes drove the majority of commission value in the last six months, with SME package, commercial combined and commercial property owners accounting for £16.86m of broker earnings, with each of these three schemes seeing considerable year-on-year growth.

SME package was once again the highest earning scheme, a title it has reliably claimed over previous years. It earned brokers £7.4m in the last six months, up 8.75% or £595,000 year-on-year.

Commercial combined scheme brokers saw their commissions rise by £1.17m (30.4%) year-on-year, taking total commission earnings in the latest period to £5m.

Likewise, commercial property owners’ schemes recorded an 11.65% or £464,000 growth in commission year-on-year, taking this line’s total commission earnings to £4.4m in the last six months.

Bishop said these three lines were “consistent growing earners in the medium term”, and their performance “evidences the strong earning position of these lines and a reliable growth in income”.

The top 10 highest earning schemes of the last six months also included combined liability (£1.9m), professional indemnity (£1.8m), household (£1.3m), specialist combined (£1.3m), pubs and clubs (£1.2m), residential property owners (£1m) and excess of loss liability (£1m). Of these lines, only professional indemnity and residential property owners reported a decrease in commission, falling by £61,000 and £720,000 respectively year-on-year.

Growth slows

While a strong year-on-year growth in broker commission was seen across the schemes reviewed, the majority of that growth occurred between the first half of 2024 and the second half of 2024 – indeed, commission earnings fell slightly between the second half of 2024 and the first half of 2025 across the major schemes.

Residential property owner scheme brokers saw the largest fall in business, with commissions dropping 43.3% between the current and previous six-month periods. Caravan and trailer cover was close behind with a commission fall of 30.4%, followed by legal expenses (-27%) and pubs and clubs (-23.9%). Seven other major lines saw commission earnings dive.

The greatest increases in commission earnings between the current and previous six-month periods were seen in personal accident (33.6%), combined liability (17.5%) and excess of loss liability (12.9%). Five other major lines saw increases – across these five schemes, the highest increase amounted to 12.1%.

One point of interest within this newest iteration of the Insurance Times Schemes Index was the development of cyber liability schemes. Bishop explained: “Cyber liability, which seems to be a popular line of discussion, has noted a stabilising of commission earnings, with earnings during this six-month period versus the last six months reflecting a marginal reduction of under 2%.

“The reduction in earnings in comparison to a year ago was over 45% and just under 40% in comparison with [the] same six-month period two years ago.”

Bishop suggested this trend could be “an indicator of pricing and earnings settling”, the sign of a “more competitive market product” or the result of a “market cycle over these periods”.

Renewals dominate

The schemes featured in this edition of the Insurance Times Schemes Index showed a large variation in the number of customers that were taking out their first policy versus those that were renewing an existing policy.

Employers’ liability, legal expenses and marine cargo were the lines that were most likely to be renewed, each seeing 84% of their total policies from the last six-months be attained through a renewal.

In total, 15 of the 19 major schemes likewise had greater than 50% of their business sourced via a renewal, with only motor trade (40%), excess of loss liability (31%), specialist combined (25%) and contractors’ all risks (9%) seeing more of their custom sourced through first premiums than renewal premiums.

Bishop explained: “The lines with the highest increase in renewal premium for the last six months, in comparison to the prior six months, were professional indemnity, commercial combined, combined liability, specialist combined and excess of loss liability.

“In comparison to the same period last year, the greatest increase in renewal premium was commercial combined, SME package, professional indemnity, commercial property owners and household.

”The top three lines with the highest growth in new business premium in the current six-month period versus the prior six months were the lines of specialist combined, combined liability and breakdown, likely evidencing some of the market movement and competition surrounding these lines.”