Moves comes as sector forecast to grow* (Source CPA)
Acturis, the UK’s leading SaaS provider for general insurance, has expanded its partnership with specialist insurer Markel by adding the company’s Contractors Combined solution to its award-winning insurance distribution platform. The addition strengthens the platform’s construction sector offering, enabling brokers to trade a comprehensive and highly specialist proposition designed specifically to meet the complex needs of construction businesses.
The move comes at a time of cautious optimism in the UK construction sector, with 340,000** businesses and output forecast to grow by 1.9% in 2025 and 3.7% in 2026*, according to recent industry forecasts from the Construction Products Association.
Markel’s Contractors Combined solution has been built using over 50 years of construction experience and comes with a specialist team of underwriters. It goes live on the 2nd of June and responds to many of the sector’s key challenges, including easy access to Professional Indemnity cover, complex liability exposures, and cash-flow pressures.
We’re committed to helping brokers benefit from the efficiencies of etrading in as many product lines as possible. Contractors Combined has been significantly underserved for many years, and so we’re pleased to strengthen our relationship with Markel and bring this proposition to the market. Markel’s Contractors Combined solution is a fantastic example of a specialist insurer-led solution designed with broker and customer needs in mind.
Simon De Ferry, Chief Insurance Products Officer at Acturis
Markel’s Contractors Combined offers cover for a wide range of risks, including residential and commercial builders, as well as finishing and building completion trades. Offering embedded Professional Indemnity, alongside Public Liability and Employers’ Liability in one product, meaning brokers don’t need to seek multiple quotes to provide adequate coverage for clients.
Alongside insurance cover, the solution is underpinned by value-added services designed to help construction businesses operate more effectively and manage risk. These include:
- Access to Markel’s Business Hub – featuring legal templates covering contracts, employment and health & safety
- A 24/7 business and legal advice line – staffed by over 40 qualified solicitors
- Debt recovery support – with tools to help ease late payments and improve cash flow
- Collateral warranty reviews – specialist legal support on complex secondary contracts, saving customers legal fees
- IR35/off-payroll review support
- A 24/7 employee stress helpline – promoting wellbeing in a high-pressure industry
- Construction consultant access – offering advice on project risk, mitigation, and compliance
Working with Acturis to make our Contractors Combined offering available through their platform is an important step in our distribution strategy. We listened closely to what brokers and the construction sector need when designing it, and we’ve built a proposition that answers the pain points they face – from Professional Indemnity cover to practical business support. We’re delighted to now make that accessible through one of the UK’s leading digital trading platforms.
Martin Parker, Head of Construction Underwriting at Markel
Contractors Combined is now live on Acturis and is available to brokers across the UK.
*(Source Construction Products Association.)
**(Source ONS)