60 jobs for Sunderland at insurance firm - and they'll be here before the end of the year

The new jobs will be available at BGL Insurance (BGLi) before the end of the year and they will all be based at BGLi’s St Catherine’s Court site.

All of the new recruits will be involved in multi-channel customer service support and they come at a time when the firm already has more than 500 people on its books.

BGLi, which is also a sponsor of the Sunderland Echo Business Excellence Awards, is a digital distributor of insurance and household financial services.

The company, which was acquired by Markerstudy Group earlier this year, is set to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its Sunderland operation and is home to well known financial services brands.

Mark Brannen, Associate Director of Contact Centre Operations, said BGLi had ‘ambitious plans for the future’.

“As we celebrate our 20th anniversary in Sunderland, now is an ideal time to join us. Together with Markerstudy Group, we have ambitious plans for the future, with our people central to our success.

"We are extremely proud of our Customer Experience colleagues, who are the faces behind many of the brands that UK consumers know and trust.

"The financial services sector is a fast paced and exciting industry to develop a career in and our people are incredibly passionate about not only helping our customers, but also supporting our local communities. This is why we were so keen to once again sponsor the Sunderland Business Awards which recognise local success and innovation.”

With almost three million customers and a further three million across the wider group, the new hybrid Customer Experience roles will be pivotal in helping the business to not only maintain its market-leading position, but also support in the delivery of growth, said BGLi.

The Sunderland Echo Business Awards finale is less than a month away.

A selection of judges met to sift through the 108 entries and agreed that the process had been really difficult but only because the standard of entries was so high.

Categories include Apprentice/Trainee; Best Independent Business; Best Large Business of the Year; Business in the Community; and Employer of the Year.

They also include Entrepreneur of the Year; Retail, Hospitality & Leisure Business of the Year; SME Business of the Year; Social Enterprise of the Year Award; and Sustainable Initiative of the Year Award.

The winners of other awards will be revealed on the night.

The next stage in the competition is to reveal the winners at our grand finals night at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland in November.

This year’s awards backers include Sunderland City Council,our partners in the competition as well as being the headline sponsors.

Also on board are the North East BIC, Chilli Mangoes, Marelli, Wilf Husband, Harrison and Brown, Thompson Waste, Gentoo, Sunderland University, The Stack, BGL, Audi, North East Ambition and Sunderland College.

We have a media team at the awards night itself to make sure you keep up to date with the winners in each category.

And to cap the whole competition off, there will be post awards coverage which will feature interviews and photos with all of the winners.