Commission-free home and life cover has delivered measurable savings, but brokers argue standardised policies are no substitute for independent advice
Yorkshire Building Society has reported that its commission-free insurance proposition has delivered £3 million in savings to members in its first year, raising questions for brokers about the role of intermediaries at the point of mortgage completion.
The building society, which launched the proposition in January 2025 through partnerships with Uinsure for home insurance and LifeSearch for life cover, said it stripped out all commission and returned the savings directly to members. Home insurance customers saved more than £2 million over the period, with average premiums of £295.75 — approximately £100 below the Association of British Insurers' benchmark figure for combined buildings and contents cover.
Life insurance customers saw an average 12% reduction in monthly premiums, equivalent to around £625 over the lifetime of a typical policy, generating a further £1 million in savings.
Yorkshire BS said it developed the proposition following research showing that nearly a quarter of UK adults had no home insurance and 58% lacked any life protection, with cost identified as the primary barrier by nearly a third of those without cover.
"Last year, we set out to make protection fairer and more affordable by removing commission and passing every penny of savings back to our members unlike many other providers in the market," said Tina Hughes (pictured right), director of savings at Yorkshire Building Society. "Too many households were missing out on cover because of cost or complexity, and we wanted to change that."
Broker perspective
Industry figures have been measured in their response, drawing a distinction between the Yorkshire BS model and the broader intermediary market.
Peter Robinson, managing director at insurance brokerage Prizm Solutions, argued that the two models are not directly comparable. "The Yorkshire Building Society model is fine but it's non-advised and from what I've read it is a standardised policy, so the only differentiator is price," he said. "Whereas we as brokers deal in hundreds and thousands of policies, all of which are very different, and price is just one of the things we have to take into account."
Robinson noted that the British Insurance Brokers' Association has consistently maintained that commission remains the only commercially viable remuneration model for smaller cases, and that brokers, unlike building societies, must generate income to operate. He framed the distinction in direct terms: "Insurance brokers are like chefs, we create a perfect meal to satisfy the customer's desire, versus going to Asda and buying a can of baked beans and some pasta and then complaining it doesn't taste as nice. You get what you pay for."
Debbie Kennedy, chief executive of LifeSearch, positioned the arrangement differently, arguing it extended rather than replaced broker involvement. "Switching from a single-tie model to our broker approach means Yorkshire Building Society members now have genuine choice, access to the wider market, and specialist advice tailored to their individual needs."
It should be noted that LifeSearch is itself a protection intermediary, meaning commission has not been eliminated from the chain entirely. The saving to members arises from Yorkshire BS choosing not to retain a commercial margin, rather than from the wholesale removal of intermediary costs.
Regulatory context
The results sit within a broader policy debate. The Financial Conduct Authority's interim report on pure protection distribution, published in January 2026, found that 58% of UK adults still hold no life protection product. The regulator identified mortgage completion as a natural trigger point for protection conversations and flagged hybrid digital-advised distribution models as part of a potential solution, without recommending commission caps or restrictions on intermediaries.
Protection specialists accounted for 52% of policies sold via intermediaries in 2024, according to the FCA, with the regulator noting generally strong retention rates and business quality in that segment.
"This isn't just about numbers, it's about giving people the confidence that what matters most is protected," Hughes said.
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