The PFS has unveiled plans to create an accreditation for specialists in retirement planning and later life advice to meet increasing public demand.
To be accredited in later life advice, advisers will need to hold specific qualifications and pass a later-life orientation programme.
While full details of eligibility criteria will not be known until September, PFS members will be able to opt-in for these specialisms through the PFS’s consumer website, yourmoney, in the fourth quarter of the year.
The accreditation means that consumers will be able to refine their searches to find advisers who are specialists in these two key areas.
Keith Richards, chief executive of PFS, said: “The introduction of pension freedoms and the increased need for regulated advice has been accompanied by a rise in fraud, so it is essential we help protect the public while differentiating professional regulated advice.”
According to Mr Richards, the Care Act has heightened the demand for later life experts, in addition to the campaigns against pension fraud launched by The Pensions Regulator and the FCA.
Adviser view
Lorreine Kennedy, co-founder of Herts-based CareMatters, said: “Anything that helps clients find the advisor with the right skills is fine by me. It will be good for clients and our profession, although it does seem that the PFS is a few years behind.
“We have been members of the Society of Later Life Advisors for more than five years, which is a highly credible scheme that directs the public to those advisers who specialise in care fee funding, equity release and retirement options.
“But as someone who specialises, I will have to look at the PFS accreditation scheme and decide upon its worthiness and, of course, cost.”
