A pair of new area directors have joined Just Mortgages’ self-employed division.

Jon Taylor joined on 4 February as area director for the South East while Jason Whiteley was appointed at the end of 2018 as area director for the North East.

Whiteley has worked in financial services for 22 years, beginning his career as a consultant at Royal Liver Assurance. He then moved to Reeds Rains where he worked for 18 years as a mortgage and protection adviser and then as financial services manager of a team of brokers based at estate agencies throughout the group.

In 2017 he became area manager at PRIMIS before joining Just Mortgages.

Taylor started his career as a branch manager at Lloyds where he worked for 14 years before moving on to become a mortgage consultant at Countrywide. He was there for more than 18 years holding a variety of different roles, most latterly, as regional sales manager.

In their new roles, the pair will provide support and backing to Just Mortgages’ self-employed brokers to help them make their businesses a success, including helping with business plans ensuring they are FCA compliant, encouraging them to become a part of their local communities and helping them find introducers.

Whiteley’s is a new role, while Taylor takes over from Rob Perrin, who has been promoted to regional director.

The self-employed division was set up by Carl Parker in June 2016. At the time, there were just three brokers, but by December 2017 there were 81. A year later that had almost doubled to 150 and Carl plans to take the number of brokers up to 240 by the end of this year.

He said: “As more brokers come on board we have increased the number of managers too – most recently with the appointments of Jon and Jason – so we can ensure all brokers receive the support they need. By April, we will hope to have two more area directors so we are able to support our continued growth.

“Our self-employed division offers the best of both worlds. The broker is self-employed, and therefore, in control of their own destiny, but they have a dedicated sales manager to help and support them. And, unlike other networks with self-employed arms, we don’t charge a monthly fee, so it is in everyone’s best interest for our self-employed brokers to be successful.”