[caption id="attachment_5313" align="aligncenter" width="300"] (from left to right) FUW Glamorgan county chairman Richard Walker, FUW Finance and Organisation committee south Wales member Brian Bowen, Ashley Yeo and FUW Glamorgan county president John Llewellyn.[/caption]

A new area officer has joined the FUW Insurance services team in Glamorgan to replace long standing employee Nia Jones who has retired and emigrated to France with her husband at the beginning of the year.

Ashley Yeo, who grew up and lives in Gorseinon, Swansea with his partner, has nearly 10 years’ experience in the insurance industry and has previously worked for Admiral as well as two other commercial insurance brokers.

“I very much look forward to increasing our customer base and hope to be a vocal and trusted area officer in South Glamorgan for FUW Insurance services,” said Mr Yeo.

FUW Insurance services managing director Mark Roberts said: “These are very exciting times for the insurance arm of the Farmers’ Union of Wales and we are look forward to working with enthusiastic, energetic and skilled people like Ashley to drive our business forward.”

“Members and customers wishing to contact me about any insurance issues they may have can reach me in the Carmarthen office on 01267 222570 and mobile 07850 653421 or email me This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ,” added Mr Yeo.

[caption id="attachment_5310" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Life Insurance Consultant, Mark Williams[/caption]

FUW Insurance Services have appointed a new Life Insurance Consultant to progress the organisation in the Pure Protection insurance market.

Mr Mark Williams, 48, from Felinfoel, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, joins the FUW insurance team with plenty of experience after previously having worked for the Cooperative Insurance Society for 14 years.

Mark, who has also been an Independent Financial Adviser for the last 9 years, said: “I am very excited by my appointment as The Life Insurance Consultant with the FUW Insurance Services Ltd.

“I feel that, in my experience, people are keen to cover their cars, houses, farms, commercial vans etc, but sometimes neglect to protect the most important thing in their lives - their family. I look forward to advising new and existing customers on this area and offer this service to FUW customers.”

Mark is married to Angela, who is an insurance administrator in the Carmarthen office and has three children, Ben 17, Sam 14 and Rosie 10.

“Our direct selling of Pure Protection products such as mortgage protection insurance, critical illness cover and income protection is a new venture for FUW Insurance Services, having for many years simply acted as an introducer of these products. I am convinced that with Mark’s knowledge, experience and expertise in this market, this new venture will prove a huge success,” said FUW Insurance Services managing director Mark Roberts.

[caption id="attachment_5307" align="aligncenter" width="300"] (from left to right) FUW Insurance Services managing director Mark Roberts with newly appointed FUW Insurance Services operations manager Tony Succamore[/caption]

The Insurance arm of the Farmers’ Union of Wales has appointed a new operations manager to carry out its day to day operations.   

Mr Tony Succamore,60, is taking over the role left by Mr Cameron Thomas of managing FUW Insurance Services’  and will further be responsible for the line management of the organisations insurance advisers, data input team and of course the operations administrators. 

“I am delighted to be joining the FUW Insurance Services and am looking forward to overseeing the smooth running of the organisation and am particularly interested in the personal development of the staff,” added Mr Succamore, who has previously won the National Training Award for Wales and the Powys Business Award for training and development. 

He has lived in Wales for the past 25 years and is going to be based in the FUW Insurance Services Newtown office as well as at the organisations head office in Aberystwyth. 

Tony, who is married to Shirley, lives in Four Crosses, Llanymynech and is a very active member of the Shropshire and Mid Wales Insurance Institute for whom he has served as president for 2 consecutive years. 

“Tony has had a long and varied career within insurance and immediately prior to his joining FUW Insurance Services he was senior account executive for Arthur J Gallagher with responsibility for advising and placing all agricultural insurance for over 50 offices within the Gallagher group.  

“Before joining Gallagher’s, he was a director at Caleb Roberts Insurance Services where in addition to managing the branches he was also their HR director with responsibility for training the group’s staff,” said FUW Insurance Services managing director Mr Mark Roberts.

As the May 15 deadline for the Single Application Form (SAF) looms, the Farmers’ Union of Wales is warning farmers to ‘check, check and check again’ rather than risk making mistakes on the most important form they are likely to complete in a decade. 

“The SAF, also known to farmers as the IACS, will establish Welsh Basic Payment Scheme entitlements for the foreseeable future, and under EC Regulations the penalties for errors are harsh,” said FUW head of policy Nick Fenwick. 

“There is a one percent payment penalty for every day a form is late after May 15 up until June 9, and forms submitted after midnight on June 9 are rejected outright.”  

Mr Fenwick said that the rules were equally strict when it came to errors on forms and corrections, despite the forms and mapping requirements being more complex than ever before. 

“A single tick in the wrong box or a miscalculation of eligible areas can result in vast financial penalties or even lead to the loss of everything,” he added. 

Mr Fenwick said farmers should not only ensure forms were submitted on time, but also take the opportunity after submission to check the statements provided by Welsh Government. 

“This year more than ever before farmers should not sit back after submitting the SAF – they should take the time to check the statement provided by Welsh Government for errors.  

“Under the EC regulations, if Welsh Government find an error before a farmer does, it is too late for the error to be corrected, so failing to look over the statement in the coming days could be extremely expensive and have long term repercussions for businesses.”