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Commission, potential earnings and self-employed status

All of our commissioned NFU Mutual Agents are self-employed. This means you’re in charge of your own earnings, and potential to earn is uncapped.

What can you expect to take home in your first year?

Based on typical Agent performance, your commissioned earnings will range between £29,000 to £33,000 in your first year, depending on the size of the business. As NFU Mutual has a very loyal customer base, on average each local office retains over 90% of the business it sells, this enables you to make decisions about the business with more confidence. However, you still reap the benefits of a commission-based role - and you can boost your income substantially by introducing customers to new products and services, such as life cover and risk management.

Things to consider

As a self-employed Agent, your freedom and earning potential increases substantially. However, there are new responsibilities you’ll need to consider carefully:

• Tax. You’re likely to need to appoint your own accountant to ensure you’re compliant.
• Managing cashflow. Though we may be able to provide support as you start out, you’re responsible for your Agency’s cashflow.
• Expenses. When you’re self employed, you’re responsible for your own expenses, for instance buying/leasing and running a vehicle, and office costs such as business rates, heating and lighting.
• Employing and managing staff. Managing staff, including the practicalities like paying wages, PAYE and HR matters, can seem daunting, but remember that we can point you in the right direction.
• Keeping compliant. Like all financial services providers, NFU Mutual is regulated by the FSA, so you’ll become an Appointed Representative, which means that you’ll be responsible for FSA compliance. Find out more about what this means by visiting the ‘fit and proper’ pages of the FSA website or download our Appointed Representative guide (PDF, 248 Kb)

Commission and support

Commission is paid monthly as a gross figure. From this, you’re responsible for paying all business expenses - salaries, office rent, expenses, tax etc. What’s left is yours to keep.

Commission is dependent on the size of your Agency and takes projected business costs into account. Finally, you’ll benefit from the knowledge and experience of a support network of specialist staff who’ll be there to guide you in your day-to-day work - read more on the how we support you page.

Additional rewards

As well as your commission, we celebrate success and achievement through a number of initiatives. One of which is our annual Mutual Challenge competition. This is a year-long competition running from January to December and is open to all Agents.

The competition has been designed to showcase Agents who work brilliantly together to achieve outstanding results. It rewards exceptional leadership and sales performance across all core business streams (General, Life and Risk Management Services). If you hit all the targets and meet the criteria, you and your business partner(s) will qualify for the big Mutual Challenge Convention. In 2010, our anniversary year, we jetted off to Dubai. In 2011, we headed to Stockholm. In 2012 the Convention is bound for Rome.