Redress Insurance Specialists (Redress Advice Limited) is an independent insurance advisory practice based at 99/109 St Andrews Rd in Porirua, Wellington. Director Abby Woollaston has been a financial adviser since 2006, continuing a legacy begun by her father Alan Burns, who entered the insurance industry in 1969 with a simple ethos: put clients first. The practice provides bespoke advocacy, rigorous structural portfolio architecture and multi-generational security strategies for families and independent businesses.
The approach is deliberately thorough. Every engagement starts with a baseline assessment of what you hold today, followed by whole-of-market research, plain-English analysis of the fine print, and hands-on negotiation with underwriters. Once cover is in place, Redress keeps reviewing — leveraging market tension to sharpen exclusions, loadings and pricing — and steps in as your advocate if you ever need to claim.
The team is small and senior: Jemma Ragg as Practice Manager and Kate Price as Head of Client Care, supported through a partnership with The Adviser Platform (TAP). Redress is a seven-time TAP Awards winner and holds accreditations with AIA, Chubb, Asteron Life, Fidelity Life, NIB and Partners Life. Client numbers are capped by design, and no upfront fee is routinely charged for personal risk insurance advice — the practice is instead paid commission by the insurers it recommends.
Independent insurance advice with a family backbone: that, in short, is Redress Insurance Specialists. Operating from Porirua and serving clients across the Wellington region, Redress Advice Limited is a specialised insurance practice built around bespoke advocacy, rigorous portfolio structure and multi-generational security strategies for families and independent businesses.
Director Abby Woollaston has worked as a financial adviser since 2006, but the practice's roots go back much further. Her father, Alan Burns, found his niche in the insurance industry in 1969, forging a unique path by always putting his clients first. Abby describes carrying on that legacy of strong, generational relationships, with the raw needs of her clients sitting permanently at the centre of everything the practice does.
That heritage shapes how Redress operates today. Accountability lies directly with clients — never with corporate agendas or stakeholder profit quotas — and the practice deliberately caps the number of clients it works with so that each relationship receives meaningful, tangible value. Growth for growth's sake, Abby notes, contradicts the practice's core values.
Redress recognises that clients operate at full capacity, with little bandwidth left to decipher complex insurance technicalities, so the process is designed to be as painless as possible. It begins with a baseline assessment: whether you are currently uninsured, concerned about vulnerabilities, or managing a disorganised collection of policies, the team diagnoses your exact starting point and whether your current structure is delivering optimal value for your premium spend.
From there comes orientation — workshopping through your complete financial position and surfacing what matters to you and those you love — followed by research, canvassing the entire insurance market and rigorously assessing existing policies. In the analysis stage, the team handles the heavy lifting of gathering fine-print details and distils the complexities into a cohesive strategy, so you can make the definitive key calls.
Once the plan makes total sense to you, Redress curates: managing paperwork and negotiating directly with underwriters to secure the best terms. The partnership then extends far beyond implementation, with continual reviews that leverage commercial tension in the market to negotiate competitive exclusions and loadings, and proactive management of pricing so coverage stays sustainable.
Abby, who holds a BCom and FMA National Certificate Level 5, leads a small, senior team. Jemma Ragg, Practice Manager, brings a decade of specialised experience in financial services and acts as the practice's operational backbone, handling compliance reconciliation and standard enforcement. Kate Price, Head of Client Care, works directly with clients to keep insurance structures continuously fit for purpose as lifestyles and asset profiles change.
The practice partners with The Adviser Platform (TAP) for its CRM, compliance and governance framework and admin support — and is a seven-time TAP Awards winner. It holds accreditations with insurers including AIA, Chubb, Asteron Life, Fidelity Life, NIB and Partners Life.
What clients return to, again and again, is advocacy. Long-standing clients describe advice that adapted through role changes, maternity leave and other life events; business owners describe a team that hunted around for the best pricing, saved money on previous policies and packaged everything in a clear, stress-free way. One client credits a fast, professional and empathetic claims response after an aggressive cancer diagnosis; another calls the team 'the translators for a complex language I just can't speak.'
In the event of a claim, Redress acts as your proactive operational shield — absorbing the administrative burden and guiding you through the process when you are most vulnerable.
Redress does not routinely charge an upfront fee for personal risk insurance advice or for implementing it. Instead, it is paid a commission by the recommended insurer — ranging from 75% to 230% of the first year's premium, plus a servicing commission of 7%–30% of the annual premium — with the exact amount confirmed when a recommendation is made. Where brokerage doesn't eventuate, a fee is negotiated before work begins.
Redress Advice Limited (FSP775491) is a Financial Advice Provider licensed by the FMA, with Abby and Jemma registered financial advisers. All recommendations are provided in writing, the advice process is reviewed quarterly and annually through a quality assurance programme, and unresolved complaints can be escalated to the free, independent Financial Dispute Resolution Service.
If you want an adviser whose first loyalty is to you — and who will still be there when it matters — the starting point is a transparent baseline assessment. Direct inquiries can be emailed to [email protected].