Send a letter to your MP for our Promote Your Profession campaign

The letter template calls on the MP to address the issues of disproportionate fees and levies, a regulatory system that does not support entrepreneurial advisers and their clients, and the need for better financial education. 

You can adapt the letter as you see fit, or you can also follow the generic MP letter outline provided from the PFS.

Here is the one which FTAdviser has created specifically for the Promote Your Profession campaign, which you are free to share: 

Dear [Constituency MP]

Re: Need for a better regulatory system for UK financial services

As the owner/principal/director of a business providing financial advice to hundreds of your constituents, of which I am also one, I am writing to ask if you would raise this matter urgently with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, HM Treasury and the Business Secretary.

I have run a well-established Independent Financial Advice (IFA) firm for many years and there seem to be two main issues that keep returning to affect our profession and our ability to help more people in Britain improve their finances, as the study in the link indicates.

These main issues are rising regulatory costs and the burden of regulation in the UK. These can be overcome by fairer fee structures for the profession, more tailored and flexible regulation, and more qualified advisers to be employed by regulatory bodies such as the FCA - points I would be grateful if you would raise to the Treasury.

The first issue

The recent increase in FCA / FSCS levy / FOS costs have been making it very difficult to budget each year and properly consider future planning. 

In the last 12 months the Regulator fees have increased from £XXXXX to £XXXX – this is an increase of XX per cent in just one year.

This causes X and prevents us from growing our business, supporting our ever-rising client base, or encouraging new and diverse candidates to join the profession.

To have increased fees at the high rates mentioned, without explanation, is baffling. We are working harder than ever to support clients through a cost of living crisis, so how can such hikes be justified?

Moreover, why should good players be penalised for the actions of bad apples? The medical profession does not have to shell out to pay fines on behalf of rogue actors. Why should it be so for financial services professionals? We urge you to look into this on our behalf.

The second issue

While we broadly welcome Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Edinburgh Reforms, it appears while the government appears to be broadly deregulatory, bodies such as the Financial Conduct Authority have not got the memo. While we are tied up in red tape it is harder to recruit, train and retain quality staff to the highest professional standards that financial advisers strive to achieve.
 
Regulation - largely pre-dating Brexit - has made it harder for professionals to obtain regulatory approval for small, new businesses. And yet, as the government is aware, there is a desperate need for financial professionals, especially since the Pension Freedoms of 2015 exacerbated the advice gap and made it more complicated for ordinary Britons to take control of their pensions planning.

The Financial Conduct Authority, which rightly aims to protect consumers of financial services, does not always seem to understand the business models of those who are serving the end consumer.

The FCA’s senior staff have not been qualified financial advisers or have achieved the level of professional qualifications needed to advise clients (QCF level 4) and yet appointments are made with small regard to the industries the FCA regulates. 

Again, this leads to disproportionate, broad-brush regulation that does nothing to help entrepreneurs such as myself and the thousands of financial advisory firms across the UK to bridge that advice gap. Again, we urge you to look into this on our behalf, and on behalf of millions of ordinary Britons who rely on our help.

Importance of promoting professionalism

The advice profession, which emphasises qualifications and progressing to chartered or certified status, is keen to demonstrate parity of esteem with the medical or legal profession. 

We want to hold new trainees to the highest possible standards and achieve qualifications, but without more support from the government for apprenticeship schemes, too many new joiners become product-pushers, rather than qualified advisers. 

And then we look at the regulators. Since 1988 there has been a proliferation of regulators and none of these has ever been run by a qualified financial adviser. We need to recognise that qualifications are the bedrock on which regulation is built.

• We need fairer regulatory costs and levies that support entrepreneurial businesses to thrive. 
• We need more proportionate, tailored regulation that enables professions like ours to thrive and help more and more Britons - more so now than ever, amid this cost-of-living crisis.
• We would like to see findings from a risk assessment on small advisory firms and whether the regulatory/cost burdens on such are disproportionate and unnecessary.
• We need bodies like the FCA and FOS to use experienced advisers to support their work.

One last point: we also need to teach school students about the importance of looking out for financial scams. We would therefore also urge you to use your voice as an MP to push for an independent education programme for schools and for adults to improve financial literacy.

Thank you for reading this. I look forward to hearing your/the Treasury’s response in this matter.

Best regards, 

YOUR NAME.

Tell us how you got on - send us your MPs' replies and any comments they were able to gain from the Treasury, at: simoney.kyriakou@ft.com, damian.fantato@ft.com or ftadviser.newsdesk@ft.com