Skipton Intermediaries has introduced a trial web chat service for its broker partners London & Country and Mortgage 65.

In its pilot phase, the web chat service will be manned by 10 specially trained advisers who are solely dedicated to providing web chat support to brokers. This service will be available between 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday, with the aim of extending it to be available on weekends.

During this test phase, up to 60 brokers will be able to use the web chat service to give Skipton a full picture of what intermediaries want from this service. Skipton will listen to all broker feedback throughout the trial to ensure it is developed to best suit all of their needs before it goes live.

Paul Darwin, Skipton’s head of intermediary relationships, said: “We appreciate how busy all of professional partners are, and that they don’t always have time to make phone calls. This is another way in which brokers can engage with Skipton in real time, without having to pick up the phone.

“We are running a pilot version of this service to ensure we receive a full picture of what intermediaries really want. This will help us shape and develop a service that best suits all of their needs.

“As part of our real life lending charter, we are committed to constantly finding new ways to ensure our broker partners receive the best possible service from us, the addition of this web chat pilot is part of this commitment.”