Date

10 March, 2015

Categories

Hastings Direct expands national footprint bringing 230 jobs to the region.

Hastings Direct — one of the UK's fastest growing insurance intermediaries — has confirmed that it plans to open a new customer service centre in Leicester — its third in the UK.

Hastings plans to open the Leicester customer service centre in May, initially creating 40 roles rising to 230 by the end of 2015 with plans for continued expansion in 2016 and 2017. The details of the city centre premises will be revealed shortly.

Centrally located with excellent transport links across the Midlands, Leicester was a natural frontrunner for Hastings' third UK location. It beat other contenders not just because of its location, but also for the quality and diversity of talent available. Working closely with Leicester and De Montfort universities, Leicester College and the job centre, Hastings plans to help identify career opportunities for a range of people across a range of experience levels and provides comprehensive training and development.

Hastings Direct provides personal lines insurance products and services (car, home, bike and van) via the web and from its existing UK call centres at Bexhill-on-Sea and Newmarket, where it will continue to recruit new colleagues to help service more customers. The multi award winning company — which currently has over 1.7m customers — has grown rapidly under the leadership of CEO Gary Hoffman. He said: "Our business continues to go from strength to strength as we focus on getting it right for our customers by providing them with refreshingly straightforward products and service. Our new Leicester customer service centre will play a significant role in our plans for growth and expansion."

Leicester's City Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said: "This is a major coup for Leicester and shows that the work we are doing to regenerate and promote the city is paying dividends.

"Hastings Direct is a fast growing, award-winning company and I am delighted that after a national search they have identified Leicester as the place where their new business can thrive.

"Their plan to create over 200 jobs this year will bring a huge boost to the city's economy, and we look forward to working with them to help them achieve this."

Voted Consumer Moneyfacts' Car Insurance Provider of the Year by the general public in 2013, 2014 and 2015, Hastings is one of the few insurance brokers to offer Defaqto 5 Star rated insurance products as standard to its customers. Hastings has ambitious expansion plans and is on track to insure one in ten of all UK car drivers by 2020, raising its customer numbers to three million.

Hastings Direct is looking to recruit a mix of managerial and customer facing positions. For more information about how to apply please email: recruitmentteam@hastingsdirect.com or visit our careers site.

Date

10 March, 2015

Categories