How to plan your gap-fill timetable

Morningstar’s Anastasia Georgiou on how to bump up your knowledge base.

Getting the right qualifications in preparation for RDR is the single biggest concern advisers have ahead of its introduction, according to a recent survey by financial services market research company Investment Trends.

For advisers, gap-fill is akin to continuing professional development (CPD). The change, under RDR, is that it will be a requirement to log a minimum of 35 hours’ CPD, of which 21 hours must be structured.

Furthermore, the detail of an adviser’s CPD will be measured, monitored and audited to ensure compliance with the FSA’s requirements, thus creating a burden of proof for advisers.

Last December, the FSA issued guidelines on qualification gap-fill for advisers that meet a certain level of professionalism through exams already held. Qualification gap-fill can only be used where advisers have passed an exam for each regulated activity they perform.

Accredited bodies

In the next few weeks, further communication is expected from the FSA, clarifying which organisations will be accredited bodies to issue statements of professional standing (SPS) – the certificate issued to advisers on completion of RDR-ready qualifications and/or gap fills. These bodies will also be responsible for carrying out the audit on the CPD records of members, and ensuring the relevance of that CPD to the member’s work.

The accredited bodies are likely to be current industry organisations such as the Institute of Financial Planning (IFP), the Personal Finance Society (PFS), the Association of Independent Financial Advisers (AIFA) and, potentially, adviser service providers. Helpfully, these organisations are already providing clarity and support to their members on how to ensure they are fully qualified before the RDR deadline on 31 December 2012, and many are making gap-fill events of their own available.

As an adviser embarking on gap-fill, you need to align yourself with one of the organisations expected to be named as an accredited body. Many of these organisations – and a number of firms, Morningstar included – are hosting gap-fill events at locations across the country, which offer highly targeted education hours delivered by experts with specific learning outcomes.

Attending the right events

But how do advisers make sure they are attending gap-fill events that are right for them and, more importantly, that are audit-proof? This year alone there have been numerous roadshows, webinars, roundtables, forums and conferences providing RDR support, CPD and/or gap-fill. With so many events on offer, advisers must use their time wisely and select the right educational events, which help them achieve the right learning outcome. This is increasingly important going forward, given the need for ongoing CPD to be relevant to the advisers’ work.