by Chris Holland Business Reporter Two senior appointments have been made at an expanding specialist insurer, which has landed another major contract.

The latest deal sees Shipley-based Keycare, the UK’s largest provider of insurance for lost and stolen keys, providing its expertise to Bollington Insurance Brokers – one of the UK’s largest independent insurance brokers.

Bollington, which provides home insurance and specialist cover for FosterTalk is including Keycare cover in its home insurance provision for foster carers. FosterTalk is a not-for-profit membership organisation, which provides advice, information and support for foster carers.

David Robertson, Keycare chief executive, said: “It is rewarding that our expertise will help members of FosterTalk – a tremendous organisation which makes a big difference to foster carers and the children and young people they look after.”

Mark Bowers, Bollington Insurance Brokers’ marketing and communications executive, said: “Many foster carers struggle to obtain appropriate or competitively priced home insurance because standard personal home insurance policies do not allow for the types of risk that come into play where foster children are involved. That is why we have developed specific insurance for FosterTalk members.

“We have worked with Keycare before and they have always been an efficient provider. Offering Keycare cover as part of the package gives us a useful additional selling point.”

The latest contract follows a raft of new business wins for Keycare whose clients span small and medium-sized enterprises and blue chip organisations across sectors including banking, motor insurance and retail.

The firm, which insures more than 750,000 people for lost keys, doubled the size of its offices in 2012 by relocating from Baildon to Shipley. It has continued to expand as the price of replacing keys continues to rocket – in some instances electronically programmed keys can cost as much as £1,000 or more to replace.

Over the past 12 months Keycare has clinched contracts with high-profile names including NCI Vehicle Rescue, Go Skippy Car Insurance and auto insurer Chaucer Direct.

The firm also recently made a hat trick of senior board appointments and promoted three employees to associate directors.

Financial controller Katie Hurrell and company solicitor Ros Marshall Smith are the latest additions to the 37-strong team at he second generation family business.

Katie has more than 16 years financial services experience, including most recently as European treasury manager for Assurant, which provides niche-market insurance products. Ros has also worked in the sector for more than 15 years, including five years as company secretary at International Personal Finance in Leeds.

David Robertson added: “Katie and Ros boast strong track records and join us at a formative period. These posts follow a raft of appointments as we continue to strengthen the team dynamics to make significant inroads into new sectors while continuing to remain focused on delivering the high levels of customer satisfaction that we pride ourselves on.”