Transport Friendly Society (TFS) is a Mutual organisation, which means we are owned by our members.
The Mutual Way
We Are Your Mutual
We are run for the benefit of our members!
As a Mutual Society we do not have any shareholders to pay dividends to. This lets us put our members at the heart of everything that we do. The Society’s profits are ploughed back into our products and services for the benefit of our members.
Giving back to our members
Being a mutual society allows us to offer additional benefits to our Sickness and Savings Plans’ members at no extra cost.
They become eligible for Discretionary Benefits after 12 months’ contributions have been paid into their TFS Sickness or Savings Plans. This means they can claim up to £400 a year for Dental, Optical and Osteopathic treatments!
We have paid Discretionary Benefits for over 30 years and we intend to continue doing so in future. However, it is important we point out that they are not guaranteed and could be reduced or taken away at any time.
Our ISA and Health Cash Plan members are not eligible for Discretionary Benefits.
Our members have a say
Our members’ opinions matter and our Annual General Meeting (AGM) is a great opportunity for them to share their views. Every member has the chance to attend and vote on any current issues.
As a member, you also get asked for your feedback on the services and products we provide.
For our 2022 AGM, in an effort to encourage members to vote online rather than by post, and thereby help the environment, we introduced a prize draw, and one lucky member won an iPad!
We exist only to serve our members
Supporting our members during the Covid pandemic
The Society’s Board took the decision back in March 2020 to pay Covid related sickness claims.
We have accepted approximately 99% of sickness claims and have paid out over £850,000 in benefits for Covid related claims alone since the pandemic started.
Rewarding our loyal members
Back in the day, the Society offered Death Section Policies that were designed to only pay out on death. While they are not available to take out anymore, we still have members who hold them.
As a way to reward these loyal members, we grant them a “free card” status after they have contributed toward their Death Policy for 40 years.
What this means is that they are no longer required to pay contributions, but their benefits remain the same.
Association of Financial Mutuals
We are a member of the Association of Financial Mutuals (AFM), which is the trade body that represents mutual insurers in the UK.
As we have committed to work in the best interests of our members, we are also part of their initiative “The Mutual Way”. This sets out to consumers what they can expect from a financial mutual.
For example, during the Covid pandemic, some members understandably had trouble obtaining medical certificates. In these cases, we adopted a flexible approach. We accepted alternative evidence in support of their claims. That way, we could still support them financially. We believe that to treat claims fairly is The Mutual Way.
In summary, these are the values we have committed to:
Last Updated: March 2023