News
17th July, 2008
Morton Michel has been shortlisted as finalist in the UK Broker awards Marketing Campaign of the Year for our entry - ChildCare Club
Sponsored by: HSBC Insurance
19th May, 2008
Our 2008 newsletter is now available.
23rd March, 2007
Our 2007 newsletter is now available. In this issue we've profiled one of our oldest clients - a preschool that has insured with us for over forty years!
March 2nd, 2007
"Undercover", Jerry Beere's article on legal expenses cover for Nurseries, appears in this month's (March/April) edition of Nursery Management Today.
December 21st, 2006
Morton Michel has won Best Family Business in Croydon’s Best of Borough Awards 2006. Judges were looking for a family-run company that was committed to and could demonstrate high levels of customer service, value for money, innovation and flexibility. The accolade for this was awarded to childcare insurance specialist, Morton Michel.
Established more than 40 years ago, Morton Michel is a family firm that has become the UK’s market leader and pioneer in childcare insurance. Its policies cover everything from nurseries, childminders, out of school clubs to mobile crèches and toy libraries. Its general insurance department also offers motoring and household cover, including a popular high worth household policy.
Over 400 people attended the glittering awards ceremony at Croydon’s Addington Palace. Footballer-turned-TV presenter, Ian Wright, and former Royal correspondent, Jennie Bond, presented the Best Family Business award to Morton Michel partners, Samantha, Nick and Jerry Beere. “We were thrilled to receive this award,” said Samantha. “It is testament to all the hard work put in by our family over the years.”
Samantha’s parents, David and Kathy Beere, founded the business in 1964 when Kathy, who was working at a playgroup, discovered that public liability insurance for playgroups didn’t exist. Coincidentally, David worked in the insurance industry and he, together with Sterling Insurance (then call Welfare Insurance Company), wrote a policy specifically for Kathy’s playgroup. Before long, other playgroups approached David for insurance and the business was born.
The fledgling company, which now has over 30 employees, was a family enterprise from the outset. Nick, Jerry and Samantha earned pocket money by helping their parents on Saturdays. “The business was, and still is, an integral part of our family life,” said Samantha. “We have enormous pride in our company and what our family of five has achieved over the last 40 years.”
Last year, Morton Michel moved to new premises: a three-storey building, Alhambra House in Croydon town centre. “We feel that receiving this award has cemented our recent move to the heart of the borough,” concludes Samantha
Staff and Partners of Morton Michel at the recent Best of Borough Awards where Morton Michel scooped the Best Family Business award.
September 25th, 2006
We are delighted to announce that Morton Michel has been voted Schemes Intermediary of the Year in the 2006 UK Broker Awards.
Over 500 people attended the UK Broker awards ceremony, which took place in The Brewery in the City of London. Morton Michel was presented with the award by Irish comedian, Ed Byrne, who said, "Schemes Intermediary of the Year is always a popular category in these awards with a large number of superior entries. The winner (Morton Michel) was extolled as a real gem by the judges and it has dominated an important sector of the market (childcare insurance)."
Morton Michel partner, Samantha Beere, received the award with her two brothers and partners, Nick Beere and Jerry Beere. "We are just thrilled to receive this award," said Samantha, "it is wonderful to have this recognition from our peers for all the hard work that we have put in over the years."
For the category Schemes Intermediary of the Year, the judges were looking for a company that could demonstrate a commitment to meeting customer needs and to delivering a high quality of service across all its activities. This had to be coupled with a proven track record of successful and innovative expansion into new or existing markets.
Insurance Age received over a hundred entries for its awards with a particularly high number of entries for the Scheme Intermediary of the Year. "This is one of the most hard fought of all the categories," said editor of Insurance Age, Michelle Worvell. "Furthermore, the quality of the entrants was exceptionally high this year and there were some real top players competing for this particular award.
Samantha Beere with the Schemes Intermediary of the Year Award.
July 28, 2006
We're delighted to announce that we have been shortlisted for the Insurance Age Schemes Broker of the Year award. The judges announced that they were looking for a company that could "demonstrate a commitment to meeting customer needs and delivering a high quality of service across all its activities". We're thrilled to have been shortlisted for this prestigious award. We'll let you know the outcome of the final judging in September!
April 4, 2006
Nurseries - you might be interested in this article by Morton Michel partner, Jerry Beere, which appeared in the latest edition of Nursery Management Today.
November 2005
If you're a nanny, browsing this site and wondering why you need insurance, you might like to read this article which appeared in Professional Nanny magazine in November 2005."
4/11/05
We have today moved into our new offices in Croydon. We were outgrowing our old offices and after an extensive 2 year search we've found an ideal office building which is three times the size of our old building, giving us room to expand. Our new address is:
Morton Michel,
Alhambra House
9 St Michaels Road
Croydon
CR9 3DD
Tel: 0845 257 0900
Fax: 0845 2570547/0548
For more details, please visit our Contact Us page
3rd August, 2005
We're delighted to announce that we will be moving to new offices in Croydon in the Autumn. The move is to give us room to expand in order that we can continue to provide a first class service for all our clients.
Morton Michel was recently featured in an article in "Nursery Management
Today" magazine.
Click here to read the full article.
4/7/05 Medical Treatments
We're delighted to inform you that, in addition to the administration of drugs cover, our childcare insurances underwritten by Sterling* now also cover you for the administration or provision of oxygen, gastro feeding, naso-gastric tube feeding, cleaning and changing of feeding tubes and emptying/changing of stoma bags (subject to policy conditions). This takes effect for new cases from 1/7/05 and for renewals from 1/8/05.
*Preschool, Playsafe, Nurserycare, Childminder, Nanny, Group, HolidayPlay and Mobile
4/7/05 New Cover for PlaySafe
The cover on the Playsafe policy has been improved with effect from 1/7/05 for new cases and 1/8/05 for renewals:
- The Public Liability cover has been increased to £3,000,000 on Playsafe and Playsafe Gold.
- The automatic cover for equipment has increased to £5000 as standard on Playsafe Gold.
- The age range has been increased to cover 3 - 16 year olds on both Playsafe and Playsafe Gold.
- There is now cover for the contents of wooden sheds, up to £1,500, subject to an excess of £250.
- The cover for the contents of metal sheds has increased to £2,500, with an excess of £100.
1/1/05
Happy New Year to all our clients!
We hope you like our new look website. We've made it easier to navigate
around, as well as making it fully accessible in line with current legislation
on disability access. We've added some new sections on awards, exhibitions
and jobs as well.
2004 was our anniversary year as we celebrated 40 years arranging childcare
insurance. Now the celebrations are over, we are looking forward to 2005.
2004 was also the year in which we concentrated on getting ready for
the forthcoming regulation of the insurance industry, which will affect
the way all insurance companies and intermediaries do business as of
14th January, 2005. Most of the regulations are simply good business
practice, and we were already complying with them in many ways, but we've
spent a lot of time and effort ensuring that we've followed them as closely
as possible.
We welcome the new regulations - you can find out more about them on
the FSA website at: www.fsa.gov.uk. All
our clients should be advised that as of 14th Jan, 2005, anyone who sells
you an insurance policy, whether a firm or a charity, must be registered
with the FSA and complying with their regulations - otherwise they will
be breaking the law.
Important Policy Updates
With effect from 1/1/05, all new Playsafe policies will automatically include the following:
- Extended age range from 3 to 16 years
- Group equipment from £3,000 to £5,000
- Equipment covered in wooden shed up to £1,500 (excess £250)
With effect from 1/1/05, the Childminder Personal Accident policy will only cover accidents happening during the course of the Childminder's work.
7/5/04 - To Pastures New
Kathy Beere retired on 31st March, 2004, after 40 years with Morton Michel. Kathy co-founded Morton Michel with her husband, David, back in 1964 and although she was sad to leave, she's been looking forward to a well deserved rest after so many years of hard work! Kathy was instrumental in setting up Playsafe, one of our flagship policies, providing cover for out of school clubs. She forged close links with 4Children (previously the Kids' Clubs Network) and worked with them to produce a policy that has been invaluable to thousands of out of school clubs all over the country. She also pioneered our Group scheme, offering cover for such miscellaneous activities as majorettes groups, Kumon maths classes, youth clubs and parent and teacher associations. Kathy was well known to her clients, and was held in great esteem by them for her personal approach to her work, and her kindness in sorting out their many insurance issues and queries. She will be much missed in the office where she was an invaluable sounding board and constant wise presence, as well as being popular among staff and partners alike. Happily, her retirement coincided almost to the day with the birth of a new grand-daughter, and Kathy anticipates having plenty with which to occupy her time.
We are pleased to announce that Kathy's assistant, Lorraine Diggens, will be taking over the Playsafe and HolidayPlay accounts. Lorraine worked very closely with Kathy so she will be offering continuity of service. We are also pleased to welcome some new arrivals: Genevieve Lowings is a new addition to the Nurserycare department, freeing Jerry to work more on the Group account; Jeffrey McClymont is Jerry's assistant on the Group scheme, and Jennifer Baker is Sarah Anderson's assistant on the Childminder account. Janet Hooper has taken over the Soft Play and Children's Activity Areas, and Rebecca Sawyer now deals with Motor.
7/5/04 - Anniversary year!
2004 is our anniversary year - Morton Michel first started arranging childcare insurance back in 1964 so we're now 40 years old. We've produced a new "Milestone" newsletter to celebrate. Morton Michel has not only been around the longest, but we're also the market leader in childcare insurance. No other insurer offers the sheer range of childcare products - and we strive to always keep up to date with latest childcare trends, as evidenced by the introduction of our new Children's Centre policy which will be launched at the Children's Centre conference on May 11th. We're not a big, impersonal firm either - we're still a family business, and place customer service and satisfaction first; we also pride ourselves on our sound technical advice and understanding of the childcare market - all values that have helped us expand and grow over the past 40 years.
24/7/03
We have created a quick download page containing PDF files for our 6 main policies: Childminder, Group, Nanny, Playsafe, PreSchool, NurseryCare. This page is for people who have been directed to the site after calling us, or who know would rather download and print off a Summary and Guide and Proposal form than read them online.
21/07/03
We are delighted to offer our congratulations to Carol Klein, the winner of the Playworker of the Year award which Morton Michel had the honour of sponsoring this year. Carol was chosen because of the difference she has made to Buccaneers Out of School Club. Since it’s opening in 1999 the number of children attending the club has tripled and this is in short due to one person – Carol. Her energy and dedication ensures that Buccaneers is a happy, fun and caring place to be. Carol sees the club as an extension of her own family and as the ‘mother figure’ she supports, inspires and welcomes in whole families. The atmosphere at the club is always positive and Carol does everything in her powers to fulfil the children’s wishes. To Carol, the children’s happiness is number one.
27/1/03
Morton Michel, in connection with Sterling Insurance Company, are proud and delighted to announce our sponsorship of the Playworker of the Year award in the annual Kids' Clubs Network Excellence In Childcare Awards for 2003. Nomination forms will shortly be sent out to all our PlaySafe clients.
26/9/02
The shopping basket for all the childminders products is now up and running. This means that childminders can purchase everything they need online; public liability insurance, personal accident insurance, fire blankets and our brand new ChildMinder organiser which is comprised of the following packs: financial records, contracts, child record forms, weekly attendance records, payment receipts, monthly planner, accident/incident records, medication/treatment records and notes.
10/9/02
Our ChildMinder newsletter, Minding Matters is now online in PDF format in the ChildMinder Organiser section or you can download it here.
9/9/02
The Website has been completely upgraded and redesigned to make navigation easier. We hope you like our new look. Please keep an eye on this page for more details about our Morton Michel ChildMinder Organiser and Minding Matters - our newsletter for registered childminders. Both will soon be available!
1/5/02
Our ChildMinder, Nanny, PreSchool, and PlaySafe policies now all have legal expenses cover as standard. NurseryCare already has this cover, and now we've been able to add it to several of our other policies. Please see the individual product pages in the dropdown menus above for more information on legal expenses cover.
Our ChildMinder policy has also been completely upgraded - it now has a new look proposal form and the policy now has the following exciting new cover options:
- Public liability insurance of £5 million.
- Cover for the childminder's legal defence should she be criminally prosecuted for anything related to her activity as a childminder.
- Legal support if a parent breaks the terms of their contract or fails to pay for the childminder's services.
- Support for taxation disputes with the Inland Revenue.
- Support for an appeal to Ofsted if the childminder's registration is cancelled.
- All legal expenses cover underwritten by DAS, Europe's leading legal expenses insurer.
- Confidential counselling helpline.
All this is in addition to the £500 of property cover, £10 million of Employers Liability cover and helpline cover for tax, legal advice, medical information and domestic emergencies that the policy already gives!
Market leaders in childcare insurance for over 40 years
Friendly family firm, not big, faceless corporation
No call centres!
Access to the Child Care Club.
