A family-owned insurance company from North Yorkshire took home two gold awards in the UK Customer Experience Awards last week.

ALA Insurance, an independent provider of specialised insurance products including GAP Insurance, cycle insurance and car warranty, was founded in 2005 by husband and wife team, Debra and Simon England who oversee operations at their Malton HQ.

The company won gold in the Best Customer Service- Financial category and Best Employee Experience - SME category, beating the likes of globally recognised organisations such as HSBC, EDSAM Group and Simply Business.

The ceremony took place last week at Wembley Stadium after a comprehensive judging process involving in-depth presentations, written submissions and expert Q&A sessions.

The awards aim to “reward organisations who put their customers first” with a rigorous application process designed to “carefully and fairly to recognise theirsuccesses on the path to a leading performance in customer experience.”

Alongside their double win, the Yorkshire-based team of thirteen were also nominated for Team of the Year - SME and the company’s founders, Debra and Simon were shortlisted for Leader of the Year.

On the night the judges referenced the company’s story and practices at the heart of the business. Following years of poor service in the financial services sector, founders’ Debbie and Simon grew the business with enhanced employee experience at its heart. They believe this has translated to better customer experience over the years. The ALA team receive on average 17% higher salaries than similar customer service roles and benefit from enhanced workplace culture including access to on-demand therapy services and more.

The accolade recognises the continued hard work of the team at ALA Insurance, who pride themselves on providing open and honest insurance advice. Unlike many of its competitors, ALA Insurance’s customer support team operates on a salaried basis, designed to encourage transparency and impartiality while avoiding pushy, commission-driven interactions.

Speaking on the win, ALA Insurance Founder and Managing Director, Simon England, said: “It’s fantastic to see a family-run business such as ours be recognised for our customer experience initiatives at such a high level. We’ve always prioritised our core values of caring for our customers by building trust, providing impartial guidance and helping to demystify the process when it comes to insurance.

“Our success at these awards reflects the hard work our team of experts do behind the scenes to provide our customers with world class service. We’re incredibly proud of this achievement, especially as an independently run business helping to put SMEs in Yorkshire on the map.”