Nestor

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by Nestor's best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from Nestor is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles

www.nestor.co.uk

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

12 | NESTOR

Nick Leech, managing

director

Nestor was formed in February 2005, in northwest England,

by a group of highly experienced independent financial

advisers as Nestor Limited Liability Partnership. In May

2013, Nestor was incorporated as a limited company, and

is authorised and regulated by the FCA, operating within its

regulatory framework. The company is owned and managed

by seven FCA-regulated individuals and employs around 25

people. It specialises in pre- and post-settlement financial advice

to personal injury claimants and their representatives, while also

offering accountancy and broader wealth management services

to a diverse group of individuals with significant investable assets.

Nestor is based in the northwest of England and has clients across

the whole of the UK. Nick Leech, managing director, expands.

We provide advice to over 1,500 active clients, and our total funds under influence

are over £550 million. Since the introduction of the periodical payment regime under

the Courts Act 2005, we receive instructions concerning the viability of periodical

payments and many other instructions involving forensic accountancy and state

benefit advice. We implement over 400 personal injury trusts per year, thus helping

personal injury claimants to maintain their entitlement to means-tested state support.

We have a good understanding of the intricacies of local authority provision, state

benefits and the Court of Protection, and act for over 120 deputies under the Mental

Capacity Act 2007. Our deposit cash management service looks after around £100

million in a range of deposit instruments, and the average size of an investment

portfolio we look after is £700,000, the bulk of which is made up of personal injury

damages awards but also clients with significant investable assets.

Our DNA

At Nestor, our focus is simple – our clients are our business. Clients bring us many

questions, and we take pride in the quality of our answers and the success of our

solutions. At our heart is an unwavering commitment to quality and integrity; this

ensures we can maintain our fundamental responsibilities of building and maintaining

complete trust with our clients, professional connections and employees.

Nestor’s values are far more than a list of points. They are how we behave and how we

challenge ourselves to help our clients achieve their objectives. By exercising skill and

objectivity, we aim to deliver the highest levels of service and advice to all our clients at

all times. Each of our clients deals with a director, and we are open about the way we

carry out our business, encouraging feedback and supporting staff development.

Independence and regulation

We are proud of our independence. This means that we aren’t contracted to suggest

any one product or solution. We have the freedom to recommend the best course of

action for our clients with complete impartiality, unfettered by conflicting business or

shareholder interests.

AT A GLANCE

NESTOR

»Managing director: Nick Leech

»Founded in 2005

»Incorporated in 2013

»Based across northwest

England

»Services: Director-led

independent financial planning

»No. of employees: around 25

»Assisted 7IM to create the

UK’s first specialised fund for

personal injury claimants

»Funds under influence:

Over£550 million

»www.nestor.co.uk

Nestor

13NESTOR |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2018

»THE FUTURE

We continue to embrace

continual change and

most recently, like many,

have implemented

more GDPR and MiFID

processes. We recognise

the simplicity of what

we do, but completely

embrace the importance

and impact that advice

can have on people’s

lives, and are committed

to strive continuously for

self-improvement, while

also looking outward to

policymakers and key

influencers across the UK.

We are strictly regulated by the FCA. In

addition, we are proud of our strong

internal governance and management

processes which, in turn, are scrutinised

by specialist consultants, continuous best

practice reviews and rigorous due diligence

processes. Nothing is left tochance.

On top of the professional processes

we put in place, we continuously

strive to put the needs of our clients

at the centre of all advice. This means

understanding the realities of their lives

and being aware that while we deal

with complex finance every day, for

them this may be unfamiliar territory.

Product innovation

Our ability has led us towards

innovation and specialist product

development within our personal injury

market and wider financial services.

Our core investment strategy proposition

is built around a cautious investment

approach, and we undertake a significant

amount of work for our clients based

on the reduction of volatility within

investment portfolios. We develop low

risk financial strategies with several

investment managers but two of our

most notable achievements to date are:

»Assisting Seven Investment

Management (7IM) to create the UK’s

first specialised investment fund for

personal injury claimants, the 7IM

Personal Injury Fund. This offers a

unique investment approach for this

special class of investors. Launched in

October 2009, the fund has grown to

over £280 million and still is unique as

the only designated investment fund for

recipients of personal injury damages.

»Designing and launching the Nestor

Wealth Solutions Portfolios with

Liontrust in 2013. These are a suite of

actively managed risk rated multi-asset

portfolios and now account for invested

client assets of over £150 million.

Thought leaders

We regularly contribute to a variety of

journals, and look to actively take part

in legislative consultations to influence

positive outcomes for our core market.

Among others, we have published

articles in:

Clinical Risk

The Barrister

Personal Injury Law Journal

(PILJ) and

The Law Society Gazette

on a range of

topics. Our half-yearly

Personal Injury

and

Grapevine

financial newsletters

have a circulation of over 8,000

professionals and are well received.

Several of our directors have been at

the forefront of emerging case law and

regulatory changes. The list illustrates

the breadth and depth of knowledge

and experience that we enjoy:

»Expert evidence to Court of Protection

following the Cant quinquennial review

of the Public Trust Office.

»2001: Private trust applications for

patients, put to court via the official

solicitor for approval of trust arrangements.

»Involved in evidence to the working

party on structured settlements, which

then altered the result of personal injury

damages awards where future losses

exceeded £500,000.

»Correspondence with the DWP in

relation to SI 2442, which created the

52-week capital disregard for personal

injury damages.

»2007: First time as contributing author

for fourth edition of

Clinical Negligence

»2007: Involved in the then-highest

cerebral palsy lump sum settlement in

England, which was £6.7 million.

»2008: Retained as expert adviser in

Thompstone’s first landmark periodical

payment case.

»2009: Involved in largest periodical

payment order in 2009 involving

an annual payment to a claimant of

£485,000 per annum.

»2010: Became annual “baton holders”

for Headway, the brain injury charity.

»2011: Co-founders of Brain Injury

Group, UK’s first national network

of dedicated brain injury lawyers and

expert services to support clients with

brain injuries and their families.

»2014: Sponsored Association of

Personal Injury Lawyers Military Claims

Conference.

»2014: Nestor Foundation charitable

trust is launched.

»2015: Contributing authors for fifth

edition of

Clinical Negligence

»2017: Civil Liability Bill consultation -

Lord Chancellor discount rate review.

Each of our

clients deals

with a director,

and we are

open about the

way we carry

out our

business,

encouraging

feedback and

supporting staff

development

“

www.nestor.co.uk

This article was sponsored by Nestor. The Parliamentary Review is wholly funded by the representatives who write for it. The publication in which this article originally appeared contained the following foreword from Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng

This year’s Parliamentary Review reflects on a tumultuous and extraordinary year, globally and nationally. As well as being an MP, I am a keen student of history, and I am conscious that 2020 would mark the end of an era. It will be remembered as the year in which we concluded Brexit negotiations and finally left the European Union. Above all, it will be remembered as the year of Covid-19.

In our fight against the pandemic, I am delighted that our vaccination programme is beginning to turn the tide – and I pay tribute to the British businesses, scientists and all those who have helped us to achieve this. But the virus has dealt enormous damage, and we now have a duty to rebuild our economy.

We must ensure that businesses are protected. We have made more than £350 billion available to that end, with grants, business rates relief and our furlough scheme supporting more than 11 million people and jobs in every corner of the country, maintaining livelihoods while easing the pressure on employers. The next step is to work with business to build back better and greener, putting the net zero carbon challenge at the heart of our recovery. This is a complex undertaking, but one which I hope will be recognised as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Through the prime minister’s ten point plan for a green industrial revolution, we can level up every region of the UK, supporting 250,000 green jobs while we accelerate our progress towards net zero carbon emissions.

With our commitment to raise R&D spending to 2.4% of GDP and the creation of the Advanced Research & Invention Agency, we are empowering our fantastic researchers to take on groundbreaking research, delivering funding with flexibility and speed. With this approach, innovators will be able to work with our traditional industrial heartlands to explore new technologies, and design and manufacture the products on which the future will be built – ready for export around the globe.

And I believe trade will flourish. We are a leading nation in the fight against climate change. As the host of COP26 this year, we have an incredible opportunity to market our low-carbon products and expertise. Our departure from the EU gives us the chance to be a champion of truly global free trade; we have already signed trade deals with more than 60 countries around the world.

As we turn the page and leave 2020 behind, I am excited about the new chapter which Britain is now writing for itself, and for the opportunities which lie ahead of us.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy