Financial advisers should identify the cost of regulation to clients.
One of my members charges around £125 an hour. He has calculated that he spends 25 per cent on regulation, including FSCS – and that was before the last increase.
If he charges VAT, the client will pay £150 an hour – £25 goes to VAT, £25 goes to regulation and the remaining £100 goes to the firm to deliver advice.
It is time we stopped hiding these costs from clients and started recruiting them to our side in our battle to cut regulatory costs.
How many hours is your client paying for when you are not actually advising them but instead are dealing with the bureaucracy generated by your advice?
Garry Heath
Director General,
Libertatem,
Buckinghamshire
