View of Lancaster with Ashton Memorial and grassy field, under a cloudy sky.
View of Lancaster with Ashton Memorial and grassy field, under a cloudy sky.

We are Premierline

SME Insurance Broker based in Lancaster, UK

How we've evolved

Premierline Direct

Initially formed in 2001 before the acquisition by Allianz in 2006 Premierline served the SME market with the recognisable Premierline Direct Insurance brand. As the first direct business insurance provider in the UK, Premierline brought to the commercial insurance market the benefits of a direct relationship and service standards previously only reserved for the personal lines customer. In the early days Premierline specialised in providing insurance solutions for micro and small businesses placing business predominately with Allianz Insurance plc.

Group of office employees sat at their desks, in a brightly lit workspace. Some individuals are engaging with computers or phones.
Four people having a work meeting in a booth, with a laptop and notebooks.
Two-story office building with large windows and Premierline sign, under an overcast sky.

Premierline Business Insurance Broker

As a business, we continue to grow and always seek to be at the forefront of meeting the needs of the changing SME marketplace. As such in 2015 we expanded our product and service offering through the launch of Premier BusinessCare.

Premier BusinessCare was launched to provide a specialist insurance broker service dedicated to arranging insurance for small to mid-sized businesses. We provide an advised service proposition and have access to a range of general insurance products from a panel of well-known insurers. The insurers we work with have been carefully selected due to their ability to cater to the insurance needs of our customers.

As we continued to drive towards our ambition to become a recognised leader within the UK broking market we’ve further developed our business model to better serve our customers. Therefore in 2019 we simplified our approach and updated our brand name from Premier BusinessCare to Premierline Business Insurance Broker. With this, we provide all of our new customers who contact us by telephone an advised service along with recommendations as to the right insurance policy to meet their needs – no matter the complexity of the risk or size of the business. We’ve also developed our website to make it easier and quicker for businesses to compare insurance and select the best policy to buy online.

In 2024 Premierline experienced another exciting business transformation when it was purchased by the insurance broking group, BDH Group (previously Beyond Doubt Holdings Limited) who also trade under the brand name Academy Insurance. This recent transition brings significant opportunity to both businesses as we continue to enhance product and distribution capability to better serve our customers

Regarding the acquisition of Premierline, Gilles Normand, CEO of Academy said:

“Premierline will be our hub business covering the North West, sitting alongside Academy in the South and West, and we are targeting others to act as our hubs as well as centres for further bolt on acquisitions.”

He said: “In five years we intend to become the market benchmark for impeccable service to customers.”

“Premierline will become part of a purpose-led business that ensures that our customers are well-protected when they need us.”

One man and two women are having a meeting, sat around a modern table and discuss some leaflets.
Group of four people in a business meeting. A woman has a laptop open, and it is showing a pie chart slide.
Two men and a woman with headsets on in an office setting, likely participating in a discussion or online call.

The Future

The continuous evolution of the group business represents its appetite to grow and confidence in our ability. To build on our success we believe we must deliver to our customers and that is through offering a best in class service along with providing outstanding insurance solutions from the marketplace at a competitive price.

Our values

At Premierline we offer a competitive base salary plus an annual company performance-related bonus as well as an extensive range of standard and flexible benefits.

Find out more about careers at Premierline

At Premierline, employee engagement and wellbeing are important to us. We aim to create a strong collaboration culture as we believe this will lead to engaged colleagues, higher job satisfaction and better customer outcomes. We regularly invite colleagues to feedback on all areas of the business with working groups and regular engagement surveys.

We expect our people to work hard but also recognise the importance of work-life balance which we support by offering flexible work opportunities where we can. There are a number of wellbeing initiatives to look after our employees’ physical and mental health, as well as regular staff socials. Employees are encouraged to support our local community through company-funded volunteering hours and charity work.

It’s important that people want to stay with us and we recognise that people want to be supported, including having time off with their families when it matters. This is why we provide generous paid leave and other support for new parents.

Our management team

A profile picture of Ian Barnham at Premierline

Ian Barnham

Trading Manager

A profile picture of Rebecca Leversidge at Premierline

Rebecca Leversidge

Marketing Manager

A profile picture of Gary Skipworth at Premierline

Gary Skipworth

Sales & Placement Director

Meet our experts

Kris Littlewood

Kris Littlewood

Digital Marketing Consultant

Joe Sharpe

Joe Sharpe

Account Executive

Phil Browning

Phil Browning

Client Sales Executive

A portrait of Steph Conway at Premierline

Stephanie Conway

Partnership Executive

Rebecca Leversidge

Rebecca Leversidge

Marketing Manager