PFS teams with education provider for next gen advisers

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PFS teams with education provider for next gen advisers
Keith Richards, chief executive of the PFS

The Personal Finance Society has added Pearson's BTEC to its qualifications criteria in a move it hopes could open up advice qualifications to thousands of students. 

The professional body has partnered with the education company in a bid to meet the "growing need and demand" for new blood in the advice industry. 

The Chartered Insurance Institute will now recognise Pearson's BTEC enhanced diploma in business as a level three qualification which can act as a bridge to the body's industry qualifications, such as CF1. 

The PFS hopes the change will open up the possibility of a career in financial advice to the 15,000 students studying the diploma and is set to pilot an introductory tour around five colleges in the UK to promote the qualification and CII exams. 

In partnership with Pearson the professional body ultimately has aspirations to roll out a career pathway into financial advice to all colleges offering the BTEC enhanced diploma in business. 

Keith Richards, chief executive of the PFS, said recent years have seen a growing need and demand for new entrants to the advice profession to meet consumer demand and succession planning for retiring advisers.

He said: "We are pleased to work with Pearson to give school leavers with the BTEC enhanced diploma in business a clear path into a career in financial services.

"This is a great way to attract students to a profession where you can develop a rewarding career and have a positive impact on people’s lives." 

A growing advice gap has been high on the industry's agenda for some time now, with Quilter last year warning it was preparing for 10 per cent of the current adviser population to leave the industry annually over the next three to four years.

In August last year Octopus Investments sounded alarm bells over a "huge recruitment crisis" set to hit the advice industry, warning 15,000 advisers were set to leave the profession in the next ten years. 

Laura Hall, manager for BTEC business, enterprise and law at Pearson, said: "We are pleased to team up with the Chartered
Insurance Institute and Personal Finance Society to deliver career maps and details of how to progress to apprenticeships in the financial planning profession.

"We will explain how you can climb to the top of the financial advice profession without necessarily going down the traditional higher education route."

Last year the PFS announced it had set its sights on providing free financial education to every school in the UK by expanding its 700-member pro-bono programme. 

Mr Richards said it was his vision for every school in the UK to have access to the programme, which educates students on how to identify scams, understand attitudes to risk and financial choices and develop an understanding of everyday expenditure and its impact on future finances. 

rachel.mortimer@ft.com 

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