For many mortgage advisors, 2025 turned out to be a lot less stressful than previous years. It started with a flurry of activity for home movers, racing to a halt before the stamp duty changes end on March 31. The focus then turned to existing customers who were coming to the end of their fixed-rate contracts.
David Booth
Mortgage proposition manager
The openwork partnership
While economic uncertainty and financial pressures were still present for some, the downward movement in mortgage rates and the easing of affordability assessments proved helpful for others.
Against this backdrop, mortgage advisors were kept busy, as were our lending partners. But the pace of product change has certainly slowed to a more manageable level, and this is confirmed in the latest set of Rated for Service survey results, which are positive.
The Openwork Partnership is once again delighted to sponsor the research together with MNM for the fourth year in a row. It gives us a glimpse into the world of the mortgage adviser, who works with lenders ‘at the grassroots’, and offers a level of granular detail that we simply wouldn’t get elsewhere.
The results provide a benchmark for lenders and an opportunity to compare their performance with their peers in a market where strategic focus and collaboration with mortgage brokers are more relevant than ever.
This year’s results reveal some interesting findings and positive movements. While all the talk among advisers is about the threat of lenders using technology to build direct relationships with customers, in the mainstream category, nine of the top 10 ‘best rated’ lenders scored higher than last time for strategic focus. Intermediary activities remain crucial for all major lenders.
There were a few notable lenders where the use of intermediaries saw a big increase in overall scores.
It’s pleasing to see Barclays enter the ‘Top Rated’ category for the first time – testament to the team’s work in improving the overall proposition for advisers. The increase in the technology score shows how well the new system has worked.
Santander’s focus on its intermediary partners – with increased lending – and the commitments it made last year also appear to have resonated well with advisers across the board, with a higher score.
The research provides a level of granular detail that we simply wouldn’t get elsewhere.
It’s interesting to see that underwriting and file processing, as well as products, are showing small declines compared to 2024, so there’s plenty we can work on with lenders in the coming months. The advisor’s insight and verbatim commentary are again invaluable in managing our lender review meetings.
In the area of specialist lenders, although the lender rankings are similar to last year, it is interesting to note that lenders that are exclusively intermediate lenders continue to dominate the Top Rated and Rated rankings; This may be an indication that mortgage brokers remain an important ally for lenders in reaching borrowers with needs not met by the high street.
In the buy-to-let rankings, specialist lenders and building societies performed well, with some of the highest scores in sales support and communications. But as with the regular category, underwriting and case processing scored the lowest, showing that there are still frustrations in helping customers with more complex needs.
While 2025 provided more stability for advisors, as we move into 2026 and beyond, both threats and opportunities will come our way. The regulatory environment will continue to change and there will be plenty for mortgage brokers to contend with. The focus will be on working with lenders and helping customers through their financial journey, building relationships that are deeper and less transactional.
All Rated for Service data can be accessed through the dashboard. To access the ranking data for each rating area, simply select the Ranking button for the lender category of your choice. You can then filter the data based on the ranking for each rating area to determine the lender’s descending/ascending performance.
Factor analysis is also available for each lender category to enable benchmarking of a panel of lenders against the average score for each rating area. This can be filtered by broker type and caseload, providing tailored benchmarks for individual brokers (up to five lenders).
View the full dashboard below: