Guardian, the protection insurance challenger focused on financial advisers, has made 12 staff redundant and a “small number” of other redundancies are being considered.

The news come after Katya MacLean was promoted to interim CEO this week after current CEO Simon Davis decided to step down temporarily for personal reasons.

In a statement to Financial Planning Today the company said it had seen “huge demand” for its proposition at strategic level and had been recruiting into operations and underwriting but needed to remain “cost effective.”

The company statement said: “The number of major distribution agreements we’ve secured in our first nine months of trading is an acceleration of our original business plan. With this rapid take-up, there has been an associated increase in on-boarding and servicing requirements, so we’ve refocused the team to meet these new objectives.

“We’ve been recruiting into operations and underwriting, however because we are still a new entrant, to do this cost effectively, a small number of roles have been made redundant or are in consultation. These people changes reflect our new priority, which is to seamlessly on-board Guardian with each distributor and ensure a high level of service.

“12 roles have been made redundant and a small number of others are in consultation.”

Peter Mann, executive chairman of Guardian, said the company had been “delighted” with the reaction to Guardian and the impressive number of strategic distribution agreements achieved. Because of this it was now refocusing on “a period of intense on-boarding.”

Chief executive Simon Davis will take an extended sabbatical for “personal reasons”, the company said earlier this week. No other details have been provided. While Mr Davis is on leave he will also step down from his director duties. Peter Mann, former chairman, will take up the role of executive chairman.