THREE members of staff at FUW Insurance Services have been shortlisted for the prestigious Women in Insurance Awards 2026.

Among them is Pembrokeshire’s Nia Evans, who has been named as a finalist in the Young Insurance Woman of the Year category for small to medium firms.

The awards celebrate the achievements of women across the insurance industry, recognising excellence at all levels and highlighting organisations working to improve diversity and inclusion.

Winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on October 13, 2026.

Nia joined FUW Insurance Services in August 2022 as an account handler and has since gained experience across several portfolios, including Gwent, Glamorgan and Pembrokeshire.

She has completed her Cert CII qualification and was selected as part of the first cohort at the FUW Insurance Services Academy in 2025.

Her nomination recognises her strong professional development, growing expertise and early impact within the business.

Meleri James has also been shortlisted for Claims Professional of the Year. She joined FUW Insurance Services in 2021 as an insurance claims handler before becoming Deputy Claims Manager in 2023.

A Dip CII Level 4 qualified professional, she was appointed Claims Manager in autumn 2025.

Karen Royles has been shortlisted for Insurance Woman of the Year in the small to medium firms category.

She joined the company in November 2015 on a six-month maternity cover contract and has since progressed through roles including Administration Manager and Group Operations Manager.

In 2025, she became the company’s first female director when she was appointed Operations Director.

FUW Insurance Services Ltd Chair, Ann Beynon OBE said: “On behalf of everyone at FUW Insurance Services, we’re thrilled that Nia, Meleri, and Karen have been recognised in the prestigious Women in Insurance Awards.

“Their nominations reflect not only their talent and hard work, but also the progress we’ve made as a business in supporting and developing our female staff within the business.

“The awards are an important way to celebrate the achievements of women in our industry and to promote diversity and inclusion.

“We are proud to support that, and even prouder to see our colleagues being recognised in this way. We wish them the very best of luck.”

New national agreement affects thousands across UK engineering sites

A NEW pay deal covering workers at the Valero refinery in Pembroke has been agreed following months of stalled negotiations and industrial unrest across the UK engineering construction sector.

The agreement, reached under the National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry (NAECI), will see workers receive a 4.5% pay rise, alongside increases to travel and lodging allowances.

The deal applies to around 8,000 workers nationwide, including those employed on major energy and industrial sites such as Valero in Pembrokeshire.

Talks between employers and unions broke down earlier this year, marking the first time in more than four decades that a pay settlement had to be imposed before being put to workers. The agreement has now been accepted by a narrow majority following a ballot of the workforce.

Pressure on key industry

The engineering construction sector plays a critical role in maintaining and upgrading major infrastructure, including oil refineries, power plants and chemical facilities.

Industry representatives say the deal reflects difficult economic conditions, including rising costs, global instability and a shortage of skilled workers.

The Engineering Construction Industry Association (ECIA), which represents more than 150 employers, said the agreement strikes a balance between fair pay and maintaining the competitiveness of UK projects.

ECIA Managing Director John Simpson said: “We wanted to make sure that operatives receive fair pay and are pleased the 4.5% increase has been accepted. Our focus now is on ensuring long-term stability for the sector.”

Unions accept narrow deal

Trade unions GMB and Unite confirmed the deal had been accepted, but only by a slim margin, highlighting ongoing concerns among workers about pay levels.

Union representatives have already called for talks on the 2027 agreement to begin without delay, signalling that tensions within the sector remain.

Workers have previously argued that pay increases have not kept pace with the rising cost of living, despite long-term gains in wages across the industry.

Local impact at Valero

The Valero refinery in Pembroke is one of several UK sites operating under the NAECI framework, which sets national terms and conditions for engineering construction workers.

The site is a major employer in Pembrokeshire and plays a key role in the Welsh economy, meaning the outcome of national pay negotiations has a direct impact on local jobs.

What happens next

With the 2026 deal now agreed, attention will turn to future negotiations and wider industry challenges, including recruitment, investment and maintaining stable industrial relations.

Both sides have indicated a willingness to return to the table, but the narrow vote suggests further disputes cannot be ruled out.

ENFORCEMENT action is to be taken against a Pembrokeshire caravan park after it has failed to deliver on an affordable homes element of a successfully appealed planning application.

At the April 22 meeting of Pembrokeshire Coast National Park’s development management committee, members were asked to support enforcement actions against Ridgeway Resort, formerly known as Buttyland Caravan and Camping Park, Station Road, Manorbier, for non-compliance of legal agreements connected to a scheme which included affordable housing, along with a failure to respond to a requisition for information.

Back in 2021, the Planning Inspectorate Wales overturned Pembrokeshire Coast National Park’s 2020 refusal of an application at Buttyland Caravan and Camping Park, Manorbier, which included outline planning for 14 affordable units, full planning for upgrading the existing caravan park from 85 temporary pitches to 85 year-round static caravans, and full planning for a new sewage pumping station.

A report for members at the April 22, 2026 meeting said the final permission was subject to a long string of conditions including the transfer of land to the local housing authority or registered social landlord for the provision of the affordable housing element of the proposal.

One of those conditions was the transfer of the affordable housing land within 30 days of the commencement of development to the local housing authority or a registered social landlord.

Another was the provision of the caravan site and associated infrastructure, not being allowed nor any caravan to be occupied unless the transfer has been completed.

The report said that, back in May 2023, Park officers raised concerns over the pre-commencement conditions, adding the owner “had suggested that there had been issues in negotiating a transfer with one registered social landlord”.

It added: “Following this letter a number of applications to discharge pre-commencement conditions were received by the Authority, however the full information necessary to determine these applications was not received until June and August 2025, following further requests for information.”

A further site visit took place in 2024, with no transfer of the affordable housing land having taken place, the owner telling officers on site that he believed he had transferred the land to the National Park, which had not happened.

It was stressed that, as static caravans had been placed on site there was an urgent and immediate need for the transfer of this land to take place amongst other matters, the report said, adding site visits in May 2025 demonstrated that 17 caravans had been installed at the site, with 16 occupied and one acting as a showroom.

The report concluded: “This situation is particularly significant as the permission granted was based on the provision of affordable housing as a critical element of the overall permission.”

At the meeting, members heard that, after the report was commissioned, officers had been contacted by a legal representative of Ridgeway, asking for the matter to not be proceeded with, saying good progress had been made.

Members heard from officers there were still “fundamental breaches,” especially around the delivery of the affordable housing.

Members agreed to the enforcement action, with officers given delegated powers to instruct solicitors to start injunction proceedings in relation to the ongoing issues with the legal agreement.