Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc announces results for the year ended 31 December 2025
Financial highlights
Another strong year of performance
Ecclesiastical delivered a profit before tax of £84.6m (2024: £82.5m). This reflects an insurance service result of £104.7m and an investment result of £91.0m, supported by positive market conditions and disciplined portfolio management.
Sustained premium growth
Gross written premiums (GWP) increased by 2.1% to £653.7m (2024: £640.3m) driven by strong new business growth in the UK and solid retention across our specialist segments.
Robust underwriting performance
Underwriting profit rose to £62.2m (2024: £47.6m). As in 2024, the year saw an unusually low level of weather related and large loss activity, with underwriting performance remaining robust across all territories. As the insurer of many iconic and irreplaceable buildings we recognise the inherent volatility in the annual results.
Strong capital position
The EIO Group’s financial strength remains solid. Both Moody’s (A2, stable outlook) and AM Best (A, stable outlook) reaffirmed our credit ratings, and our Solvency II coverage ratio at 252% remains well above regulatory requirements and our own conservative risk appetite thresholds.
Key achievements
Giving to good causes
Ecclesiastical donated over £28m to charity and good causes during 2025. This brings total giving since 2014 to over £275m, further advancing the ambition of our parent, Benefact Group*, to contribute meaningfully to communities and good causes across the UK and beyond.
Growth in specialist markets
Ecclesiastical deepened its presence in its core sectors and expanded into new areas where specialist expertise delivers genuine value. This included enhancements to our Schemes proposition, growth in Care & Leisure and Arts & Culture portfolios and continued investment in services for commercial customers. Ecclesiastical’s reputation as trusted specialists remains one of our strongest differentiators, reflected in further industry recognition throughout the year.
Continued recognition for trusted service
For the fifth consecutive year, Ecclesiastical UK received the Outstanding UK Claims Service Quality Marque from independent research consultancy Gracechurch. The business also retained its long held position at the top of Fairer Finance’s rankings, securing 1st place for the 22nd consecutive time.
A culture that sets us apart
Benefact Group has recently been named one of the Top 4 ”Best Big Companies to Work For” and the #2 Insurance Company by Best Companies. In Canada, Ecclesiastical was named a Greater Toronto Top Employer for the eighth consecutive year and was recognised as a Leader in Philanthropy and Community Engagement by Imagine Canada for the fifth year in a row. These achievements reflect a culture centred on specialist capability and deep commitment to the communities we serve.
“I’m very pleased to report another year of strong financial performance for Ecclesiastical Insurance Office public limited company. We continued to deliver on our strategy of sustainable, profitable growth while staying true to our purpose – to grow our business so that we can give more to good causes. That purpose has once again guided our decisions and inspired our teams, enabling us to support even more charities and communities across the UK and beyond.
“Thanks to our strong financial performance, we have been able to donate over £28m to good causes this year. This contribution will support vital projects for those facing the greatest challenges in society. Having now donated over £275m since 2014, we have now surpassed our target to give £250m and have become one of the largest corporate donors to charity in the UK.
“Our General Insurance business delivered an underwriting profit of £62.2m, an increase on last year, supported by unusually benign weather conditions and the absence of major losses. While this is a welcome result, it is important to recognise the inherent volatility of our specialist markets. As the insurer of many iconic, historic and irreplaceable buildings, we are acutely aware of the responsibility we carry and the potential for significant losses. In recent years we have supported customers through devastating fires, floods and storms, and these events remain a powerful reminder of why our long-term, disciplined approach is so essential.
“We remain committed to delivering good value and uniquely specialist propositions to our customers, ensuring we are there for them when they need us most. I congratulate my colleagues on their simultaneous recognition as one of the most trusted insurers in the UK, one of the best employers and one of the largest corporate donors. These achievements provide an excellent foundation upon which we can both grow our business and grow our giving.
“I want to express my heartfelt thanks to our colleagues, brokers, customers, and partners. Your support and belief in our mission not only drives our success, but also enables us to make a lasting, meaningful difference in people’s lives. As we look ahead to 2026, we remain committed to delivering brilliant service, driving sustainable growth, and continuing to build a legacy of good that will endure for generations.”
Mark Hews, Ecclesiastical Chief Executive Officer
Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc announces results for the period ending 30 June 2023
Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc (“Ecclesiastical”), the specialist financial services group*, announced its 2023 interim results**.
Group overview
Excellent trading momentum with continued growth in premiums, with GWP** rising to £288m from £262m at H1 2022. This was driven by new business wins and supported by strong retention and rate strengthening.
Underwriting profit** of £0.3m (H1 2022 restated: £12.9m). Our underwriting result was impacted by larger than expected prior year claims in the UK as well as a major fire at St Mark’s Church in London in January.
Overall profit before tax of £10.2m (H1 2022 restated: loss of £25.7m). This includes an investment result of £14.7m profit, a significant improvement on last year (H1 2022 restated: loss of £65.5m). Our strong capital position and long-term investment approach allows us to withstand short-term volatility in markets.
Capital position remains strong with AM Best and Moody’s ratings remaining stable.
Ecclesiastical UK successfully launched into the Leisure sector as part of its growth plans to move into new adjacent sectors.
Ecclesiastical granted £6m to its charitable owner Benefact Trust as part of its continued mission to contribute to the greater good of society. This brings the total given to good causes since 2014 to £205m. Benefact Group, the UK’s third largest corporate giver***, has set a target to give £250m by the end of 2025.
Ecclesiastical has continued to be recognised with prestigious awards including: First Place Gold Ribbon for the seventeenth consecutive time (Fairer Finance); ‘Outstanding’ Service Quality Marque for the second consecutive year (Gracechurch Claims Monitor); Specialist Insurance Company of the Year (British Insurance Awards); Claims Product Solution of the Year – Insurer (Insurance Times Claims Excellence Awards); and a Top Employer for Greater Toronto for the fifth consecutive year.
Ecclesiastical UK has also been recognised by Best Companies as Insurance’s Number 1 Company to Work for in recent league tables, supported by its inspiring purpose to give all available profits to good causes, and ambition to provide a world-class employee experience for all.
Mark Hews, Group Chief Executive Officer of Ecclesiastical, said:
“Ecclesiastical achieved an improved result in the first half of 2023, delivering sustainable, profitable growth despite the challenging economic environment. We have ambitious growth plans and premiums grew by 10%, driven by new business wins, rate strengthening and strong retention across our territories, and we delivered an overall profit before tax of £10.2m, a step change from the equivalent £25.7m loss last year. This strong improvement has been supported by profits from our overseas businesses in Ireland, Canada and Australia, offset by some large losses impacting our UK underwriting result. The result is a testament to our brilliant teams delivering against the plans and structures we’ve put in place.
“Alongside this, our capital position remains robust with our AM Best and Moody’s ratings remaining stable and regulatory solvency is near an all-time high.
“As a member of the Benefact Group, Ecclesiastical is driven by a unique purpose to contribute to the greater good of society. I’m delighted that we’ve been able to grant a further £6m to our charitable owner Benefact Trust in respect of our performance in the first half of 2023. This brings the total given to good causes since 2014 to an extraordinary £205m. Thanks to Ecclesiastical, the Benefact Group is now the UK’s third largest corporate giver to charity and is building a Movement for Good that transforms lives and communities for the better. We are united in our ambition to become the UK’s biggest corporate donor, giving £250m to good causes.
“At the start of the year, we simplified our legal structure within the Ecclesiastical and Benefact Groups to better align our businesses and support our strategic objectives and this is the first time reporting our results in line with our new company structures.
“Ecclesiastical UK is pushing hard for sustainable profitable growth and reported excellent GWP growth of 16% thanks to a number of new business wins. The UK business is investing significantly in its high net worth and schemes capabilities and expanding into new sectors as it pursues its strategy to ‘grow to give’. In particular, Ecclesiastical UK has successfully launched into the Leisure market, including fine dining, gastropubs, high-quality hotels, arts and visitor attractions and exhibition centres.
“I’m incredibly proud that we were recently recognised as a world-class employer and named as Insurance’s Number 1 Company to Work for in recent league tables by Best Companies. We have a brilliant culture at Ecclesiastical and it’s thanks to our colleagues’ commitment to our ambition that we’ve been recognised at this level. As we strive to become even better, we will seek to attract new talent and build the capabilities of our teams.
“Our goal is to be the first-choice insurer in all our specialist markets, and we have the appetite and capacity to achieve our goal. We have an exciting pipeline of propositions being developed, and we will continue to invest in our systems and people so that we can deliver the best possible service to our customers and brokers. With a clear strategy and a purpose that drives us ever onward, I’m confident that we can continue our excellent progress and build a movement for good in society.”
* The ‘Group’ refers to Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc together with its subsidiaries. The ‘Benefact Group’ and ‘wider group’ refers to Benefact Group plc, the immediate parent company of Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc, together with its subsidiaries. The ‘Benefact Trust’ and ‘the Trust’ refers to Benefact Trust Limited, the ultimate parent undertaking of Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc.
** 2022 comparatives have been restated following the adoption by the Group of IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts from 1 January 2023.
*** Directory of Social Change’s The Guide to UK Company Giving 2023/24.
Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc announces results for the period ending 30 June 2022
Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc (“Ecclesiastical”), the specialist financial services group*, announced its 2022 interim results.
Group overview
Within Ecclesiastical, there was excellent growth in Gross Written Premiums (GWP) to £261.9m (H1 2021: £226.5m), driven by new business, and supported by strong retention and rate strengthening.
Underwriting profit increased to £16.6m (H1 2021: £2.5m).
Our capital position remains robust with Solvency II capital cover increasing to 280% and AM Best and S&P affirming our excellent and strong ratings. A consequence of our capital strength is that we are able to hold a large diversified portfolio of equities, property, infrastructure and other investments on top of those assets held to meet our insurance and capital requirements. This is done to enhance our returns over the long term, although it can lead to short-term volatility in our reported results, as it has in the first half of the year.
Overall loss before tax of £27.3m (H1 2021: Profit before tax of £46.5m), which includes £79.8m of fair value investment losses (H1 2021: £34.3m gains) as a result of adverse market conditions. Net investment losses were £26.6m (H1 2021: £58.2m profit).
As part of the Benefact Group of companies, Ecclesiastical remained focused on its charitable ambition to grow to give. The Group has now given £182m1 to charity against its target of donating £250m by the end of 2025.
This includes a grant of £5m to our owner Benefact Trust Limited in respect of 2021 performance. Alongside this, thanks to a robust underlying performance of the Group’s businesses, we’re announcing a further £5m will be granted to our charitable owner.
Our donations are benefiting charities and communities all over the UK and Ireland, Canada and Australia, and also helping to tackle current issues such as the war in Ukraine and cost of living crisis in the UK.
Our parent company Benefact Group plc published its climate commitments in March, setting out a roadmap to achieve net zero (direct and indirect) by 2040. This includes an ambitious commitment to achieve net zero for direct emissions by the end of 2023 and to become net negative for direct emissions by the end of 2025.
Continued external recognition of the Group as a trusted and specialist financial services organisation. This included being named as the UK’s most trusted home insurer for the 15th time by independent ratings agency Fairer Finance, and our Canadian team was named one of the Top Employers for Young People for the tenth consecutive year. Ecclesiastical Financial Advisory Services won the NatWest Intermediary local hero mortgage awards – South West & Wales, while EdenTree’s Responsible & Sustainable Managed Income Fund was awarded the ESG Clarity Best Multi-Asset ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) fund.
Mark Hews, Group Chief Executive Officer of Ecclesiastical, said:
“Being owned by a charity, we measure our success less in terms of the profit we make, but more in terms of the amount we give away to good causes. Together, thanks to outstanding commitment from all our supporters, the Group has now become the fourth largest corporate donor to charity in the UK, and with additional donations made this year, we have now given £182m2 to good causes against our target of giving £250m by the end of 2025.
“In terms of Group profits, whilst we report short term losses due to investment volatility, I’m pleased to report a resilient financial performance for the first half of 2022 from our core businesses. Our business model is focused on delivering long-term sustainable profits, which allows us to withstand short-term economic pressures, and we have continued to grow the business despite the challenging environment. Our GI businesses reported excellent premium growth, driven by new business wins, and supported by strong retention and rate strengthening. This led to an underwriting profit of £16.6m, a significant increase on the previous year.
“While much of the investment industry saw outflows as investor sentiment fell, EdenTree, our award-winning responsible and sustainable investment management business, bucked the trend by growing its fee income and receiving positive net flows. Our broker businesses also performed well, with SEIB reporting solid results with a half year profit before tax of £1.9m (H1 2021: £1.7m).
“Our capital position remains strong, with AM Best and S&P recently affirming our excellent and strong credit ratings, and we continued to invest in our business. In the UK and Ireland, we saw the release of our new general insurance system, which will ultimately enable a better, faster service for our customers and brokers, and we continued to rollout our innovative Smart Properties proposition to heritage properties, schools and cathedrals, which provides an early-warning system to prevent fire and flood. I’m also pleased that Ecclesiastical Financial Advisory Services (EFAS) have signed an official partnership to provide independent financial advice to ordained and lay members of the various Church of England Pension schemes administered by the Church of England Pension Board.
“The challenging market conditions in the first half adversely affected our investment performance as equity prices fell sharply amid concerns around inflation and the on-going uncertainty in Ukraine. Our results included fair value losses of £79.8m (H1 2021: £34.3m gains) on our investment portfolio, which contributed to a net investment loss of £26.6m (H1 2021: £58.2m profit) and overall loss before tax of £27.3m (H1 2021: £46.5m profit).
“In these difficult times, we remain resolute in our vision to build a movement for good in society, helping to transform lives and communities for the better. In June, we celebrated our achievement of giving £100m to good causes with a Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey, attended by HRH The Prince of Wales, now HM King Charles III, politicians, brokers, clients, colleagues and some of over 10,000 charities that have benefited from our giving. It was a remarkable and moving occasion. It demonstrated our combined impact and inspires us to do even more.
“In the first half of 2022, we have helped hundreds of charities in the UK through our Movement for Good Awards. Our charitable owner, Benefact Trust, stepped up its giving to include a £1m funding package to support those affected by the devastating conflict in Ukraine.
“Earlier this year we granted £5m to Benefact Trust in respect of our excellent 2021 performance and we have announced a further grant of £5m to be paid in October. This will support even more people and help us achieve our new ambition of becoming Britain’s biggest corporate donor.
“We are conscious of the financial pressures currently facing many of our customers. In response, we have provided fundraising resources to help churches and charities raise much-needed funds. We have also invested significantly in our risk management services, both face to face and online, to help customers protect themselves from losses, and if the worst happens, our expert claims team are always there for our customers when they need us most.
“Our charitable purpose feels even more relevant in these difficult times. It spurs us on to grow the business, so that we may give even more to good causes, and help those in society who need it most. We are actively seeking new opportunities and paths to growth in all our markets and we have the appetite and capacity to achieve this goal.”
Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc announces results for the year ended 31 December 2021
Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc (“Ecclesiastical”), the specialist financial services group, has announced its full year 2021 results.
Group overview
Driven by its purpose to contribute to the greater good of society, the Group achieved its landmark target of giving more than £100m to good causes. Alongside a grant of £21m awarded to its owner Benefact Trust, the Group gave more than £2.5m directly through its own giving programmes. A further £5m was awarded to the Trust in 2022 in respect of 2021 performance.
The Group is now the fourth largest corporate donor to charity in the UK1 and has set an ambition to become the biggest in the years ahead.
Profit before tax of £77.0m (2020: loss before tax £15.7m), driven by investment returns because of improving market conditions and a good current year underwriting performance.
Gross Written Premiums (GWP) grew 11% to £486m (2020: £437m), supported by strong retention and rate increases as well as new business wins.
Underwriting profit of £8.8m (2020: profit of £12.1m) thanks to a robust underwriting performance in the UK and Canada. This result includes a strengthening of reserves in our Australian business and the impacts of some adverse weather events.
We remained in a robust and strong capital position with AM Best and S&P affirming our excellent and strong credit ratings.
We continued to prioritise the wellbeing of our colleagues and in June we were awarded Best Companies’ 2 star accreditation demonstrating ‘outstanding’ levels of employee engagement.
We achieved a record number of external awards, recognising the Group as a trusted and specialist financial services organisation. This included being named as the UK’s most trusted home insurer for the 13th and 14th time by independent ratings agency Fairer Finance, and our Canadian team was named one of the Top Employers for Young People for the ninth consecutive year. Ecclesiastical UK won Digital Insurance Innovation of the Year Award at the British Insurance Awards for Smart Properties, while EdenTree was named Best Ethical Investment Provider at the 2021 Investment Life & Pensions Moneyfacts Awards for the 13th time.
Mark Hews, Group Chief Executive Officer of Ecclesiastical, said:
“2021 was an outstanding year for Ecclesiastical. We reported strong financial performance, a record number of external awards, excellent customer and employee survey feedback, and continued progress on our strategy.
“Most importantly, thanks to the incredible support of our customers, brokers, business partners, colleagues and all our supporters, we achieved our goal of giving more than £100m to good causes. This fantastic achievement has enabled our ultimate parent, Benefact Trust, and ourselves, to give more than 10,000 charitable donations over the past five years.
“After a challenging year in 2020 due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, I’m delighted that the Group returned to profit in 2021, reporting a profit before tax of £77.0m (2020: loss before tax of £15.7m). Our positive financial performance was driven by impressive investment returns, as markets bounced back, and a solid underwriting result.
“We delivered Gross Written Premium (GWP) growth of 11% to £486m (2020: £437m) supported by strong retention and new business in the UK and Canada.
“Our award-winning investment management firm EdenTree had another excellent year, achieving record inflows and exceeding fund benchmarks. Our broking businesses also performed above expectation with SEIB reporting a profit before tax of £3.2m (2020: £2.8m).
“Alongside this, we made significant progress on our strategic initiatives, despite the ongoing uncertainty in the external environment. We successfully launched the new Ecclesiastical brand to positive feedback, we opened our new head office in Gloucestershire, and we continued to make investments in new systems and technology to improve the broker and customer experience.
“Our parent group also unveiled its new name – the Benefact Group. The new name for the Group better reflects our diversity, breadth and charitable purpose – it originates from Latin and means “to do well” by supporting a person or good cause. All of the trading brands in the Benefact family will continue to operate under their own names, united in a belief that better business can mean better lives.
“While 2021 was a truly transformational year for Ecclesiastical, we are ambitious to do more. At the end of last year, we unveiled an exciting new vision and strategy that will take the business forward over the next five years. This will see us invest significantly in our businesses, seeking out new opportunities and paths to growth and continuing to innovate for our customers. Our ambition is to be the first-choice insurer in all of our specialist markets and we have the appetite and capacity to achieve our goal.
“By growing our business and generating profits to donate to charity, we are fulfilling our purpose as an organisation committed to the greater good of society. We’re already the fourth biggest corporate donor in the UK and we have an ambition to be the biggest. By the end of 2025 we aim to donate an incredible £250m to good causes.”
1 Directory of Social Change Guide to UK Company Giving 2021/22