Ellis Bates News

We are delighted to announce that Ellis Bates have achieved Top Rated Financial Adviser Firm status in VouchedFor again in 2024. 

The theme this year is ‘Helping solve life’s financial puzzles’ and for over 40 years we have been humbled to be chosen as the trusted adviser by all our clients. 

These same clients have then taken time out to leave heartfelt, insightful feedback for which we are truly grateful. 

It is these reviews which then form the backbone of the assessment of achieving Top Rated Firm status in the UK, along with being vetted and monitored in key areas such as ensuring our clients are on track to achieve their financial goals and fully understand all elements of risk and fee structure. 

Ben Clapham, Director of Financial Planning: ‘As always, public recognition is as a result of tremendous teamwork which leads to giving our clients the best experience possible. We would not be able to deliver the service we do without exceptional people supporting throughout our various teams, whilst some of us are the face of this, the entire team’s contribution makes amazing things happen for our clients.’ 

Alongside achieving Top Rated Firm status, 18 of our financial advisers also achieved Top Rated Adviser, many for the second year in succession. 

International Women’s Day 8th March 2024 

Imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that’s diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge women’s equality.  

Collectively we can all #InspireInclusion 

With a 55/45 female/male split in our team leaders, our female team leaders have been sharing how they were inspired into a leadership position and how they in turn now try to inspire others into leadership roles. 

Elizabeth Mills, Director 

I realised early in my career the important role women play in business and was lucky enough to work alongside several professional, intuitive and inspirational women who set the bar very high for me. Equally, I now feel so lucky to work alongside some talented and committed women who offer a diverse skill set, drive our success and always deliver.  

Jo Nickell-Lean, HR Manager 

I was inspired to getting into a leadership role as I worked for a company that was growing very fast at that time.  We recruited a diverse range of people, we had a mixture of mature and young inspirational leaders at the top, who all shared the same vision, with clear goals and we had a dedicated training team who in conjunction with those senior managers encouraged and inspired others to grow and develop, including myself. Personalised training was given to support those individuals too, whether that be in house training or encouraging individuals to do external professional qualification/study. I could see other colleagues progressing and I too wanted to develop and was lucky to work closely with Elizabeth and Grant who very much encouraged me to choose a different career path and move into HR.  

In my role now, I take my responsibility to help others on the same journey of self-discovery and development very seriously and love to see my colleagues being given both opportunity and encouragement.

Beth Irwin, Client Services Team Leader (Support) 

For me, a leadership position has always been something for me to aspire to; wanting to surpass my own expectations and challenge others’ perception of me whilst effecting a rewarding and vital role. When I was in primary school, our headmistress was beloved by all who knew her and she was such a strong female influence in my life – taking over from her ex-military father, she had big boots to fill and a lot of parents’ expectations to meet. Always dependable, she really inspired me to be that robust and reliable figure in others’ lives, and looking back, I’m sure that she subconsciously influenced my decision to work my way towards a team leader position and collaborate with www.thegirlsnetwork.org.uk/.

As part of the mentoring programme, I work on a one-to-one basis with disadvantaged young women across the North East to break through the glass and class ceilings and help them realise their own potential. Some of these girls are already in ‘leadership’ positions without even realising it; looking after siblings or cooking their family’s meals and being part of www.thegirlsnetwork.org.uk/ allows me to help them to understand their unique strengths, apply them to a professional perspective and expand their further ambitions.

Kelly Slater, Client Servicing Team Leader (Corporate & Technical) 

I have been at Ellis Bates for just shy of ten years now and throughout that time, I have been lucky enough to work alongside many incredible women – all of whom have supported and motivated me to get to the role I am currently in, leading our Corporate and Technical Administration Team. 

I have two young children so managing my work and home life is a definite juggling act, but I hope that I, like all of the fabulous women I work with, prove that women really can do it all! 💪 

Jayne Graves, Head of Marketing 

My first inspiring female was definitely my Mum who juggled work and family life and managed to be brilliant at both. My primary school Head Mistress declared ‘you are all going to be knowledge super-heroines’ and so began a lifelong love of self-learning and encouraged by home and school went onto undergraduate and masters university degrees to underpin my leadership journey. 

In my career I have met some simply astounding women, whose light you cannot help but follow and they set the tone for everyone in the room and showed how to help everyone be the very best version of themselves. In my role now, the greatest compliment I could be paid would be that I had helped someone on their path to career or personal success and work towards doing exactly that every day. #InspireInclusion

August 2023 sees the introduction by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of new Consumer Duty legislation with a focus on fair value, products and services designed to meet client needs, high levels of client service and increased consumer confidence and understanding. Over the last 4 decades we have worked tirelessly on these principles for our clients and both welcome and embrace an even greater spotlight being placed by our industry on achieving good financial outcomes for all.

Our mission is to enhance people’s lives by delivering peace of mind, enabling financial freedom and helping our clients achieve their financial goals. We take great pride in leading the way in having these four outcomes already well and truly embedded in how we look after our customers both old and new and continue to work relentlessly on our customer experience and outcomes.

Director of Financial Planning, Ben Clapham, was asked to be a panelist on a recent webinar on creating a truly client-centric culture. VouchedFor is the UK’s leading review site for Financial Advisers, Mortgage Advisers, Solicitors and Accountants.

On 18th May, employees across Ellis Bates raised funds for the Mental Health Foundation by taking part in “Wear it Green Day”, an initiative set up in aid of Mental Health Awareness Week to raise money to help improve mental health for all of us.​

We are committed to supporting mental health initiatives ​and have 9 qualified Mental Health First Aiders across the ​business to support our colleagues.​​

If you’d like to find out more about the Mental Health Foundation, and how you can get involved, please take a look at their website: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/

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We are delighted to announce that Ellis Bates has achieved Top Rated Firm 2023 status.

The Top Rated Firm accreditation is a powerful standard for financial advice firms which identifies and celebrates the UK’s best financial advice firms, based on client feedback.

Top Rated firms are champions of transparency and providers of brilliant client service.

A delighted Michael Cope, our Managing Director, said “This accreditation is a testament to our commitment to delivering exceptional service and transparent financial advice. We put our clients at the heart of everything we do, and we are delighted that our efforts have been recognised through this prestigious award. Being featured in the 2023 Guide to Top Rated Financial Advisers is a great honour and we are grateful to our clients for leaving feedback that helped us achieve this accolade.”

Director of Financial Planning Ben Clapham congratulated those of our advisers who also achieved Top Rated Adviser status: “Helping our clients achieve their financial goals and dreams is the top priority for each and every one of our advisers. A massive well done to everyone at Ellis Bates who looks after our clients day in and day out. The biggest thank you of all goes to our clients for leaving us such heartfelt reviews and feedback.”

Our North Financial Adviser Team

Our Midlands and Yorkshire Financial Adviser Team

Our South Financial Adviser Team