I have great sympathy for John Gaulton, IFA of Ross-on-Wye whose FCA fee invoice has increased by 59.9 per cent (FA, 23 July), as I’m sure everybody does.
But I am writing in the hope that everyone will soon have great sympathy for me too, because I can do a lot better than that.
I nearly fell off my chair when my invoice came in – in fact, all the staff in the office were running around with glasses of water, opening windows and considering whether a 999 call might be appropriate.
You see, our bill has gone up by 153.51 per cent, so we are trumping Mr Gaulton quite considerably. The actual numbers are horrendous. Our new bill is £14,042 and our old bill was £5,539. Of course, I understand that much of this is due to the increased FSCS levy which has gone up by £32m from the forecast in the FSCS’s Plan and Budget in January – just a small error in their projections.
As Mr Gaulton pointed out, it is all very noble protecting consumers when financial firms fail, but the decent and honest members of this community do not have a bottomless pit, and soon there will be nobody left to pay into the pot.
Barry Johnson
Senior Partner,
Barry Johnson Financial Services,
Northampton
