According to Just Mortgages, around 60% of self-employed advisers recruited to Just Mortgages in the prior year have been under a principal business.
The firm said this reveals that senior self-employed brokers are recruiting and building their own teams, whether it is support staff or additional advisers.
Just Mortgages added that it had more than tripled the number of protection advisers in its self-employed division as principals look to “diversify income streams, meet regulatory requirements and build more resilient businesses and client banks”.
The firm reported that Just Mortgages received over 100 applications to join its self-employed division.
This shows “strong demand from advisers looking to move away from employed or corporate structures and build their own businesses with the backing of a national brokerage”.
Just Mortgages currently has over 650 advisers, including almost 500 in its self-employed business and over 150 employed advisers in Spicerhaart estate agency branches nationwide.
Ben Allkins, head of mortgages and protection at Just Mortgages, said: “There is a real appetite among business principals to grow right now. Advisers want to build sustainable businesses with people around them, not work in isolation, and that’s exactly what our model is designed to support.
“What sets us apart is that we actively help our business principals recruit and scale, and we do that at no extra cost. By investing in recruitment support and specialist roles, we’re removing one of the biggest barriers to growth and giving principals the confidence to take the next step. It’s just one example of the comprehensive support structure we place around all our self-employed advisers, whether that’s as a new starter or a principal firm.”
He added: “The volume of applications we’re seeing shows there is strong demand to go self-employed, but advisers want to do it the right way. Our focus on business principals is central to that and will remain a key driver of the division’s success.”
