Class in recession

Our partnership with Scottish Widows is currently being launched across the UK and is seeking to attract and support over 1500 IFAs during 2008. The focus of the Scottish Widows Learning programme is to assist IFAs to graduate from the benchmark certificate in financial planning level up to the diploma in financial planning which will create a step change in knowledge for all successful participants.

The Scottish Widows programme will focus predominantly on tax, pension funding options, pension income options, investment principles, pension planning and investment planning modules. The programme is linked into the Scottish Widows IFA extranet and is designed to provide a clear route map for IFAs to follow as they progress towards the diploma in financial planning.

A range of study support is available which caters for a variety of learning styles. The CII study material includes course-books and updates together with key fact booklets that improve success rates in the exams. Extensive e-learning underpins much of the material including on-line assessments, access to the Scottish Widows resource centre and crucially access to the support of the Scottish Widows face to face training team which has been accredited by the CII. Overall this is a major commitment to support distribution at a time when change is afoot and is essential in helping to raise the bar in a way that ensures as many IFAs embark on the journey as possible. Providers that play their part in this process should be applauded and we are encouraging others to play their part.

Over the next few months, our focus will be very much on ensuring we deliver extensive support across the market as the industry rises to the challenge of higher professional standards – we are very keen that the consensus around professionalism maintains its momentum as we and it is clear others believe working in a true profession will have benefits to all concerned not least our customers’.

We now know the likely outcome of the RDR following the publication if the FSA’s interim report. Increased professional qualifications will become the norm and the threshold is almost certain to be at diploma level and we're keen to help IFAs on the path to achieving these qualifications. We are delighted to have launched the learning programme under the auspices of the Chartered Insurance Institute - dovetailing as it does with the CII's existing study material means advisers can complement the high quality material already available with structured study plans, new e-learning modules, knowledge tests and checkpoints. Many advisers will not have studied for some time so this makes the process of getting back into a study regime as smooth as possible.

Steve Jenkins is the director of business development at the CII