024:The Cii and the EATT - with Melissa Collett and Stephen Ross

On today's episode, we’re talking about EATT – the Education and Training Trust that Chartered Insurance Institute have recently launched alongside The Insurance Charities. We’re chatting to previous podcast guest, Melissa Collett and Independent Trustee, Stephen Ross about how the new program can benefit insurance industry professionals.   LEARNING OBJECTIVES: EATT has been set up to assist in advancing education and training of people have who work within the sector of insurance and allied occupations such as financial planning. Teaming up with The Insurance Charities means that CII can help those that are struggling with financial hardship due to the impact of the pandemic within the industry. The need for training and development has never been greater than this current time. The importance of a grant making charity is to look after the assets and use them to benefit society and the beneficiaries.   BEST MOMENTS: ‘’…In response to COVID, the charity [EATT] decided they wanted to help those people within the profession who's suffering from financial hardship, in order for them to be able to pursue their studies, training and gain qualifications during this time. Particularly, we wanted to help those who may be redundant or on furlough and those who may be suffering business collapse, or who have a particular concern about their finances at this time due to the circumstances surrounding the pandemic.’’ ‘’We thought they would be the ideal partners for this project [The Insurance Charities] because not only would they be able to administer the grant that's been made for professionals suffering hardship because of COVID, but those people who need further assistance beyond the need for professional development and training, perhaps they have, you know, specific needs. ‘’…this kind of break that some of us have experienced is the perfect opportunity to re-skill and why is it important for the profession to do that? The ultimate aim is to improve outcomes for customers. That's the whole purpose of CII.’’ ‘’…the COVID-19 situation presented an opportunity to cut through all the formalities and processes that were embarked on now, to operationalise the charity and start making grants because, the problem came up, we have to find a solution quickly, we were able to do that, and we're able to make grants which was fantastic.’’   RESOURCES: The Insurance Charities Website: https://www.theinsurancecharities.org.uk/ CII Website: https://www.cii.co.uk/   ABOUT THE HOST Sarah Myerscough is the Sales and Marketing Director of Boston Tullis Group. The founder of The Insurance Brokers Podcast, she brings a wealth of marketing experience and a fresh perspective on marketing in the insurance sector. Boston Tullis works with insurance brokers to offer solutions to business development ceilings, particularly in the rapidly developing fields of video marketing and thought leadership. If you would like Sarah to help you develop an integrated marketing strategy, using state of the art concepts, then please book a free 20 min call via Calendly    Website: https://bostontullis.co.uk/ Evaluation Link: https://s.bostontullis.co.uk/s/podcastevaluation ABOUT THE GUESTS Melissa Collett Melissa Collett is the Professional Standards Director at Chartered Insurance Institute (Cii) and comes from an extensive background in consumer insurance and legal issues. She spent over a decade of her career at the Financial Ombudsman service, held directorship at Fairer Finance and also sits as a tribunal judge. Melissa is also a qualified solicitor, having specialised in insurance law. Melissa’s Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissacollett/   Stephen Ross Stephen Ross is an experienced qualified governance practitioner and independent board member. As a qualified charity accountant and Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute, wider recognition in the charity and financial sectors for practical and academic expertise have drawn