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One rapid claims decision protected a business, its employees and their livelihoods.
Published on 27 February, 2025
Amy Brewster speaks with Donna Robertson of Squared Insurance Brokers
For Donna Roberton’s client, it was the most devastating day of her business career. The victim of a social engineering scam, she’d phoned Donna, managing director of Squared Insurance Brokers, in an understandable panic after realising that fraudsters had tricked her into gaining access to her bank account and draining it of £140,000.
It was the kind of situation that could happen to anyone. Donna’s client had received a telephone call from someone saying they were from their bank, and that someone was trying to hack her accounts. As anyone would have been, she was initially suspicious of the call. But they were able to provide some details of her most recent transactions, lulling her into trusting them enough to hand over her authentication codes.
Confronted with the heart-stopping realisation that it had not been the bank she’d been speaking to, and worried for the future of her marketing business, Donna’s distressed client had pinned all her hopes on a quick resolution.
“The time was important on this, because she needed to know where she stood money-wise,” Donna recalls. “This was really a case of whether her business was going to survive this or not. I remember thinking, ‘Please make this be okay – I hope this policy has been set up correctly and is going to respond as we expect it to respond.’”
Speedy resolution
With time of the essence, Donna and her client were relieved when Markel swiftly got the ball rolling. “They got back to us two hours later to ask for the client’s contact details,” says Donna.
Donna Robertson
It’s unusual for an insurer to act so quickly.
Markel Law investigated and provided a report confirming that the claim was covered, and Markel was able to arrange payment to Donna’s client just seven days after her initial contact. “We were absolutely delighted in the office,” she remembers. “We did a celebratory dance that it was covered and that our client was going to get the full extent of her policy extension.”
“Everyone at Markel in the claims team and Markel Law all really got behind getting this sorted as quickly as possible,” remembers Amy Brewster, Senior Claims Handler at Markel. “Putting people first, putting the policyholders first, is really important to us as a claims team,” she continues. “We’re encouraged to find ways to pay claims. If there’s any sort of room to interpret it in a way that means it should be covered, then we favour covering the claim anyway.”
“We felt that Markel share our people-first approach, and I’m very happy that we work in partnership with them,” Donna adds. “Because it’s not just for the business’s survival – it’s for the survival of all their employees and their livelihood and their futures.”
“So it’s much more than just a policy,” she concludes. “It’s everybody’s future.”
