It never has and never will be proven that changing the way advisers are paid or charge for their work will affect the quality of advice. As in any walk of life, you either want to do a good job or you don’t. The knee-jerk ban on ‘contingent charging’, where those advising on transfers from final salary pensions only get paid if you go ahead, will only improve things by drastically reducing the numbers advising and increasing the upfront cost of advice. Just as there’d be a lot less deaths on the roads if, at £250,000, a Tesla was the cheapest car.
“Worry for profession as young adviser numbers plummet”
There are around 31,000 advisers currently authorised by the FCA to give advice. Of these only around 6% are under 30 and 84% of all advisers are male. There are 209,000 solicitors, 7,000 young ones enter the profession each year and 52% of all solicitors are now female.
