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A market standard · hold anyone to it

The 51-week benefits broker standard.

The standard in one sentence

Twelve things an employee benefits broker should actually do between renewals. A renewal is one week of the year; the other 51 are where benefits either work or quietly become another job for HR. Hold your current broker to this list. Hold us to it.

Written by a working brokerApplies to any UK employee benefits schemeNo sign-up to read it

The twelve, in full.

Each one is observable. If you cannot see it happening, it is not happening.

1 · Keep policy and member data current, all year

Member movements, salary changes and cover amendments recorded as they happen, so the scheme data matches the workforce at any point in the year, not just at renewal.

2 · Process agreed joiners and leavers on a defined cadence, without HR chasing

New starters added and leavers removed on a schedule the client knows, with confirmation back, so nobody is discovered uninsured months later.

3 · Own insurer administration and claims issues until there is a clear outcome

When a claim stalls or an insurer query drags, the broker carries it and reports back, rather than handing HR a reference number.

4 · Surface every included support service, so paid-for help gets found

Virtual GPs, employee assistance lines, early physiotherapy and bereavement support often come included with insured benefits. The broker's job is making sure people know before the moment they need them.

5 · Give employees one current place to understand cover, claim routes and support

Not a PDF from onboarding. A place that is kept current when schemes change.

6 · Take routine benefits questions off HR's desk

Which dentist the cash plan covers, how to claim, whether a partner is included: answered by the broker, not routed through HR.

7 · Keep a visible renewal and rate-guarantee calendar

Every renewal date and rate-guarantee expiry visible months out, so decisions are planned rather than urgent.

8 · Maintain the policy, premium and membership data needed for P11D and reporting throughout the year, not as a year-end rebuild

Reporting season should be an export, not an archaeology project.

9 · Review claims and utilisation where the data exists

Where insurers provide claims or usage information, it gets read and fed into decisions, not filed.

10 · Tell affected employees about changes when they happen, not only at annual renewal

A provider change or a new service is communicated to the people it affects at the time, in plain language.

11 · Give the client named people who remain accountable for the relationship

The same people, by name, who know the arrangements. Not a rotating account team.

12 · Arrive at renewal with a clear recommendation, not just options

A broker who has run the scheme all year should be able to say what they would do, and why.

What this list is

This is the standard. How a broker meets it may differ. This is how Alltoogether is built to meet it: see the other 51 weeks. Evaluating a broker this year? The 2026 broker checklist turns the standard into the questions to ask.

Common questions.

Who sets this standard?

No industry body publishes one, which is why brokers get judged on the renewal alone. We wrote this list from running employee benefits schemes year round, and we hold ourselves to it. You are welcome to hold any broker to it.

Does meeting the standard cost an employer more?

It should not. Broking is paid by commission from insurers; appointing a broker who works to this standard adds no fee and no new cost line. The question is what the commission already being paid is funding.

Which benefits does it apply to?

Any insured employee benefit a UK broker arranges: private medical insurance, group life, group income protection, critical illness, health cash plans and dental. The standard is about how the scheme is run, whoever the insurer is.

Alltoogether is an employee benefits broker in Manchester. Our broking is paid by commission from insurers, with the platform included. We think the other 51 weeks are the job.
ZF

Written by Zak Fenton · Founder, Alltoogether

Written by Zak Fenton, MSc Workplace Health and Wellbeing (Distinction), founder of Alltoogether, a UK employee-benefits broker and workplace-health platform.

Hold your broker to it. Hold us to it.

The list is the same either way. We just built Alltoogether around it. If you want to see what the standard looks like running, the whole stall is on one page. Or see it in the product itself: take the employer tour. No form, no call.

See the other 51 weeks →