The Personal Finance Society now recognises the Society of Later Life Advisers (Solla) ‘later life adviser accreditation’ as counting towards achieving fellowship membership status.
In total, 350 credits are required to achieve fellowship recognition.
The Solla accreditation will be worth 30 credits, and can be added to the 290 credits obtained through completion of the advanced diploma in financial planning.
To achieve the Solla accreditation financial planners must "display evidence of their later life technical knowledge, demonstrate they work within a supportive environment and confirm ongoing maintenance of competence within their online submission".
Advisers then undertake a final assessment with their overall application judged by an independent panel before the accreditation is granted.
Once accredited by Solla, advisers can then make a formal application for recognition of the award as part of their request for PFS fellowship membership status. This can be done through the CII website.
PFS membership director, Mark Hutchinson said the PFS is keen to acknowledge the role of high-quality third-party courses in contributing towards fellowship status.
“Achieving later life adviser accreditation from the Society of Later Life Advisers is an endorsement of a financial planning professional’s skills and experience of working with, and understanding the needs of, older people and their families and carers,” Hutchinson said.
“Many advisers choose to specialise in their drive beyond minimum knowledge and qualification standards and we are proud to announce that the Solla accreditation is the first to help chartered financial planners on their route toward fellowship status.”
Solla founder and joint chair, Tish Hanifan said the development highlights the importance of “combining the right engagement skills with technical expertise in the expanding later life advice sector”.
Achieving PFS fellowship allows advisers to use the FPFS designation after their name.
The recognition comes after the CII ‘Shaping the future together’ consultation proposed regulated qualifications and experience would no longer be the only way to achieve chartered and fellow status.
At the time, the PFS criticised the CII for not consulting with its board prior to the publication of the strategy consultation.
In its consultation, the CII proposed a number of improvements to its education offering.
It referenced the need to make its qualification pathways “clearer and simpler”.
Other suggestions included making its content “more relevant”, introducing a new learning and experience assessment, making it “easier and fairer” to convert previous study to CII qualification pathways, and adding more career development tools.
jane.matthews@ft.com
