Award
The British Later Life Lending Awards 2025


Hilton London Bankside
Adviser Categories
Best Later Life Adviser – 5 and fewer advisers sponsored by Aviva
Acclaimed Mortgage Consultancy
Emerald Finance
Later Life Retirement Planning
Best Later Life Adviser – 6 to 19 advisers sponsored by Just
55 Plus
Equity Release Associates
Viva Retirement Solutions
Best Later Life Adviser – 20+ advisers
Bower Home Finance
Equity Release Supermarket
Mortgage Advice Bureau
Best Individual Later Life Adviser sponsored by Pure Retirement
Stephanie Miles, Viva Retirement Solutions
Ed Payne Clifton Mortgages
Andrew Teeman Mortgage Advice Bureau
Best distributor for adviser support (firm or individual)
Advise Wise
AIR
Premier Equity Release Club
Other Categories
Best Business Development Manager
John Macdonald, Aviva
Karen Banks, Pure Retirement
Lisa Windley, Royal London Equity Release
Best Underwriter
Matthew Evans, LiveMore Mortgages
Paul O’Hara, Canada Life
Jake Wilson, Pure Retirement
Best Legal firm
Adlington Law
Equilaw
Gilroy Steel Solicitors
Best Surveyor
Countrywide Surveying Services
e.surv
Legal & General Surveying Services
Best Newcomer sponsored by Equity Release Council
Kaitlyn Buxton, Pure Retirement
Natasha Hudson, Mortgage Advice Bureau
Megan Williams, Royal London Equity Release
Provider Categories
Best Lifetime Mortgage provider (For product, proposition and service) sponsored by Phoebus
Aviva
more2life
Standard Life Home Finance
Best RIO or Retirement Mortgage Provider (For product, proposition and service) sponsored by Mortgage Advice Bureau
Family Building Society
Hodge
LiveMore Mortgages
Best Provider for Adviser Support, Training and Development sponsored by Later Life Retirement Planning
Aviva
Legal & General Home Finance
Pure Retirement
Best Later Life Adviser – five or fewer advisers
We are looking for you to recognise firms rather than individuals. Your nomination should be based on a combination of the company’s commitment to the best possible outcome for its customers across the whole later advice spectrum, business performance and the consistent quality of its advice. The company will have demonstrated an exhaustive knowledge of the whole later life lending product range and the concerns and needs of its client base. This holistic Later Life advice can be demonstrated by all advisers or by a referral internally to a Later life expert(s) or a referral externally to a partner(s) which ensures a holistic advice framework is adhered to. The number of advisers should be the number from 1st January 2024.
A commitment to diversity and inclusion for staff and/or customers should be demonstrated.
Best Later Life Adviser – six to 19 advisers
Your nomination should be based on a combination of the company’s commitment to the best possible outcome for its customers across the whole later life advice spectrum, business performance and the consistent quality of its advice. The company will have demonstrated an exhaustive knowledge of the whole later life lending product range and the concerns and needs of its client base. This holistic Later Life advice can be demonstrated by all advisers or by a referral internally to a Later life expert(s) or a referral externally to a partner(s) which ensures a holistic advice framework is adhered to. The number of advisers should be the number from 1st January 2024.
A commitment to diversity and inclusion for staff and/or customers should be demonstrated.
Best Later Life Adviser – 20+ advisers
Your nomination should be based on a combination of the company’s commitment to the best possible outcome for its customers across the whole later life advice spectrum, business performance and the consistent quality of its advice. The company will have demonstrated an exhaustive knowledge of the whole later life lending product range and the concerns and needs of its client base. This holistic Later Life advice can be demonstrated by all advisers or by a referral internally to a Later life expert(s) or a referral externally to a partner(s) which ensures a holistic advice framework is adhered to. The number of advisers should be the number from 1st January 2024.
A commitment to diversity and inclusion for staff and/or customers should be demonstrated.
Best Individual Later Life Adviser
This category recognises an exceptional individual adviser for their achievements over the last 12 months. The individual can be a representative from any size of firm, including a sole trader.
Your nomination should be based on a combination of the individual’s commitment to the best possible outcome for their customers across the whole later life advice spectrum, business performance and the consistent quality of their advice. The individual will have demonstrated an exhaustive knowledge of the whole later life lending product range and the concerns and needs of its client base. This holistic Later Life advice can be demonstrated by the adviser or by a referral externally to a partner(s) which ensures a holistic advice framework is adhered to.
Best Distributor for Adviser Support (firm or individual)
This category recognises the distributor firm or individual (To include, but not limited to, adviser firms, networks and clubs, conveyancers, surveyors, as well as other support services firms and consultancies in the distribution chain) that have demonstrated new thinking in advice firm support.
This includes, but is not limited to:
Training courses and events;
Compliance services;
Customer contact strategies;
Adviser business development;
Technology innovation
The successful firm will have made a proven positive impact on its own business in the last 12 months, while delivering services that positively enhance the work of its distribution partners.
Best Business Development Manager (an individual from any firm – Either telephony or face-to-face)
This category is open to individuals from all firms – provider, distributor or support services companies. The award will be given to the individual responsible for business development in a face-to-face or telephony capacity. This individual will always go the extra mile for their customers. Someone who is always available, knows their business inside out and offers support and guidance to the distribution channels they serve. They will take ownership of the relationships, ensuring that they consistently achieve positive results for the intermediary and their business.
Best Underwriter
This award category is open to anyone in this discipline at all levels – director, executive or manager. The nominee will have delivered strong initiatives in the last year to improve the quality of business, overall performance and/or controls within the provider which demonstrates that this individual is exceptional. This candidate demonstrates initiatives which have made a clear, visible impact on the business.
Best Legal Firm
Nominees will provide expert, efficient and practical advice at each step of the process. Successful candidates will have risk and compliance at the heart of their propositions and demonstrate an innovative approach to challenges, while pushing for a consistently faultless service to clients.
Best Surveyor
Nominees will have demonstrated the delivery of a consistently high-quality offering, accurate reports as well as a quick and efficient service. Candidates will evidence digital enhancements to service and a willingness to engage with or lead industry development.
Best Newcomer
Nominees should have up to three years’ total experience in the Equity Release/Later Life Lending sector as of January 2024 (not up to 3 years in a new role, having had further experience in the wider intermediated mortgage market – whether that is in the mainstream or specialist markets). The award is aimed at those individuals who have made exceptional progress in their respective businesses in the last 12 months. They will have demonstrated first class results, attitude and ambition and have ample evidence that they have consistently overachieved and have taken on further responsibility within the business.
Best Lifetime Mortgage Provider
For this category, please make your assessment in terms of the combination of products, proposition and service levels provided in the last 12 months. We are looking for a firm which ensures the best customer outcome via the intermediary and consistently meets the needs of distribution partners with both the right blend of product(s) and a consistently high level of service. A commitment to diversity and inclusion for staff, distribution partners and/or customers should be demonstrated.
Best RIO or Retirement Mortgage Provider
For this category, please make your assessment in terms of the combination of products, proposition and service levels provided in the last 12 months. This category covers either Retirement Interest Only Mortgages or standard Capital repayment mortgages for the over 50s. (including Term Interest only mortgages). We are looking for a firm which ensures the best customer outcome via the intermediary and consistently meets the needs of distribution partners with both the right blend of product(s) and a consistently high level of service. A commitment to diversity and inclusion for staff, distribution partners and/or customers should be demonstrated.
Best Provider for Adviser Support, Training and Development
The category deliberates over the highest examples of adviser support from a product provider. This includes, but is not limited to, training and development, compliance services, customer contact strategies and adviser business development. This also includes technology innovation that drives broker efficiency and the delivery of a first-class customer experience. The successful firm will have made a proven positive impact on its own business in the last 12 months, while delivering services that positively enhance the business of their distribution partners. A commitment to diversity and inclusion for staff, distribution partners and/or customers should be demonstrated.

Acclaimed Mortgage Consultancy


Barton Law


Head of mortgage market development and optimisation, Legal and General Home Finance

Marie has 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry.
She began in mortgage adviser training and development at the West Bromwich Building Society before moving to Legal & General, where she worked in the insurance division. Next was working for L&G Mortgage Club for many years, working with specialist broker firms, lenders and regulatory bodies leading to a focus on the later life lending sector.
Marie moved across to LGHF in 2018 to set up and lead the mortgage sales team. The team was created to help grow the later life market and support adviser firms in their transition into the later life advice space. Through this, she created a CII-accredited programme of educational workshops for firms entering the market.
Marie now heads up mortgage market development and optimisation for LGHF. Leading strategic development to ensure LGHF remains market leading in providing innovative client solutions and a top-quality service and support experience for adviser partners.
Marie is a keen spokesperson for the later life sector and has recently completed a term as a co-opted director of the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association.

Bower Home Finance


Equity Release Supermarket


Canada Life


Knight Frank Finance


Key Group


LDN Finance


Equity Release Council

Kelly is the director of risk, policy and compliance at the Equity Council, with over 25 years’ experience in the financial services industry.
She has experience of leading many risk and regulatory projects in the equity release market.
Having joined the Council in 2020, Kelly works with all stakeholder members to ensure the vision and values of its standards are championed and understood.

Just


LV=


Livemore


Viva Retirement Solutions


Emerald Finance


Aviva


Equilaw


Advise Wise


more2life



Aviva is one of the UK’s largest protection providers and has around 19.2 million customers across its core markets of the UK, Ireland and Canada. It has been helping customers for over 325 years and has over four million protection customers.
Aviva’s heritage, flexible product range and claims record all combine to help it live and breathe its purpose and be there for protection customers when they need it most.
Claims are the heart of Aviva’s business and in 2023 it was proud to pay out 97.8% of individual protection claims. That’s £1.18bn, equating to an average of just over £3.2m every day.
Flexible protection to meet your clients’ needs. It takes Aviva.


Adlington Law Limited is a multi-award winning law firm dedicated to providing exceptional later life legal services with a client-centred approach. Adlington Law is known for its personalised and friendly service, tailoring strategies to meet the unique needs of each client.
It is a family run firm and every member of the team is committed to achieving the best possible outcomes by combining their legal knowledge with practical solutions.
When it comes to complex cases, its experienced team is always proactive in achieving a solution for all parties involved, focusing heavily on technical excellence.
In a competitive legal landscape, Adlington Law Limited stands out for its unwavering commitment to delivering exceptional, client-focused later life legal services.


The Equity Release Council is a diverse and unified trade body, serving as a focal point for industry success by setting high standards, promoting consumer safeguards, and influencing policy and debate on the use of property wealth in later life and retirement planning. It holds a firm belief that to support its member’s interests, rigorous industry standards and robust consumer protections are vital.
It is committed to fostering a vibrant, responsible, and trusted later-life market, grounded in good consumer outcomes, product innovation, and industry best practices. The Council is customer-centric, ethical, and respectful at all times and in all it does.


Just Group plc is a FTSE-listed specialist UK services company and one of the UK’s leading providers of specialist financial services solutions. It is completely focused on meeting the needs of people thinking about, approaching, or in retirement and is passionate about its strong purpose of helping people achieve a better later life.
Since 2004, Just Group has helped more than 650,000 customers achieve a better later life, looking after more than £24bn of their pension savings and releasing more than £6.7bn from their properties.
Just is a trading name of Just Retirement Limited and Just Retirement Money Limited, which are subsidiary companies of Just Group plc.


Later Life Retirement Planning brings nearly 60 years of combined adviser experience in financial services, with a trusted reputation for personalised, ethical advice. It is accessible beyond typical business hours, offering flexible support over the phone, Zoom, in person, or alongside family members. Its core values are built around a personable, client-centred approach. The business invests time in getting to know each client individually, actively listening to understand their specific needs. It believes in working for clients, ensuring they feel confident that their best interests are at the centre of every piece of advice it gives.


Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB) is one of the UK’s leading consumer intermediary brands and specialist appointed representative networks for mortgage intermediaries, winning more than 250 awards for the quality of its advice and service. MAB has more than 2,000 advisers offering expert mortgage, protection and general insurance advice on a local, regional, and national level to consumers, both face to face and over the phone.
MAB’s proposition is aimed at supporting high-quality and ambitious mortgage adviser firms to deliver the best outcomes for their customers through the provision of proprietary technology and services, including adviser recruitment and lead generation, learning and development, compliance auditing and supervision, and digital marketing and website solutions.
MAB handles more than £25bn of loans annually and is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange.


Building societies, banks, specialist lenders and third-party servicers use Phoebus to service over £120 billion of mortgage and savings assets in the UK and Ireland.
For over 30 years, Phoebus has been trusted to deliver automated servicing solutions to over 25 clients in the UK and Ireland. Its approach is to create a true working partnership with clients which drives measurable results and ROI.
The ability to service many different product types on the Phoebus servicing solution is recognised as a key strength. Multi-tenancy capability allows different brands to be serviced in accordance with different SLAs.
Phoebus manages even the most complex servicing needs and is widely recognised as the market’s most robust and accurate servicing platform. The Phoebus API ecosystem integrates customers to their accounts via mobile and web application and also integrates Phoebus with any internal or external applications required as part of an implementation.
If you’re seeking to digitise your operations and customer experience whilst driving impressive efficiencies through automation, Phoebus should be your partner of choice.


Pure Retirement is a multiple-award-winning specialist lifetime mortgage lender based in Leeds. It is founded on the belief that everyone deserves to enjoy their later years.
The company operates on the key values of honesty, responsibility, and simplicity to deliver flexible products, technical innovation, and gold-standard customer service standards. It is also heavily aligned with The Equity Release Council, which helps develop best practices to improve and grow the market.
Pure is proud of its intermediary sales division, which caters to adviser needs in person, on the phone, or via email. In addition, with over 40,000 customers and a total portfolio of over £5bn, Pure’s post-completion customer service is exemplary.


Royal London joined the equity release lending market in 2023 with the launch of the Royal London Equity Release Lifetime Mortgage products. In addition to an equity release lending branch, Royal London looks after 8.6 million life and pension policies and is the largest mutual life, pensions and investment company in the UK. Founded in 1861, Royal London offers long-term savings, protection and asset management propositions in the UK and Ireland.
Royal London Equity Release’s range of lifetime mortgages is designed to be as flexible as possible, to ensure that your clients get the financial support and peace of mind they deserve in retirement. By combining product flexibility, market-leading rates and transparent terms, it is confident that its products can be a solution to your client’s needs.
The core principle behind the British Later Life Lending Awards scheme is the transparency and robustness of the nominations process.
As such, we have two processes. One for the Provider categories and one for the Non-Provider categories.
Process for the provider categories
There is a three-stage process for the following categories:
Best Lifetime Mortgage provider (For product, proposition and service)
Best RIO or Retirement Mortgage Provider (For product, proposition and service)
Best Provider for Adviser Support, Training and Development
All provider categories will be nominated for by a panel of over 50 adviser firms. We will be asking them to submit their top five provider firms in each provider category. (We will not be accepting any self-nominations for the provider categories and employees of providers will not be allowed to nominate their own business in any of the provider categories).
Once the first phase of the process is closed, a shortlist of 3 is drawn up in each category based on the number of nominations for a particular firm. Those nominees that make the shortlist of 3 in each category are then asked to submit a supporting testimonial which will be scrutinised by our judging panel.
A respected judging panel is used for the final stage of the process. The judges are handpicked for their experience and knowledge of the market and are a representative sample of providers, distributors and supporting services who can give a reasoned and balanced view on each of the candidates on the shortlists.
A representative from each of the shortlisted firms will attend a 15-minute interview in which the judges will use the testimonial and their market knowledge to assess who should win the award. We conduct the judging remotely, with interviews taking place over Zoom.
Process for the non-provider categories
There is a three-stage process for the following categories:
Best Later Life Adviser – 5 and fewer advisers
Best Later Life Adviser – 6 to 19 advisers
Best Later Life Adviser – 20+ advisers
Best Individual Later Life Adviser
Best Distributor for Adviser Support (firm or individual)
Best BDM
Best Underwriter
Best Legal firm
Best Surveyor
Best Newcomer
As with provider categories, once the first phase of the process is closed a shortlist is drawn up in each category based on the number and spread of nominations for a particular firm or individual. Those nominees that make the shortlist of 3 in each category are then asked to submit a supporting testimonial which will be scrutinised by our judging panel.
To complete the process, each finalist will attend a 15-minute interview in which the judges will use the testimonial and their market knowledge to assess who should win the award. We conduct the judging remotely, with interviews taking place over Zoom.
Nominations are due to open on Tuesday 24th September. Deadline for nominations is 5pm on Wednesday 30th October.
An online judging day will take place on Thursday 28th November 2024
19:40 | Welcome Danielle Moore, operations director, Mortgage Solutions |
19:45 | Opening Address David Burrowes, chairman, Equity Release Council |
19:50 | Dinner is served |
21:30 | Comedian Emmanuel Sonubi |
21:50 | Awards Ceremony Hosted By Danielle Moore, operations director, Mortgage Solutions And Emmanuel Sonubi |
22:15 | Post-Awards Party |
01:00 | Carriages |
Please note that we are asking you to create an account or sign into Mortgage Solutions in order to submit a nomination.
This is so that we can verify you as a mortgage professional (These awards are voted for by mortgage professionals only. Any nominations received from members of the public, including customers, will not be counted).
Setting up an account takes 2 minutes
On submission of your nomination, you are giving AE3 Media permission to use your data to send you relevant details about The British Later Life Lending Awards.
Should you have an issue with how AE3 Media is processing your personal data, please email lorraine.francisco@ae3media.co.uk.






















