Once again this industry of ours is marked by a January revolt over FSCS levies. Nothing annoys the IFA more than the unfairness of this system, the erratic FSCS forecasts and heavy handed collection tools of the FCA. That said, it is our industry and we need to look after those who have been disadvantaged by poor quality IFAs.

Advice to IFAs. The key thing is that the category of advice provided and fees earned are haphazard to say the least. If you invest someone’s pension fund in a different fund, is this pension advice or investment advice? This is nowhere defined. Pension income will be aggregated and assessed for FSCS claims – which are growing against this sector, but shrinking against the investment sector. Hence the hit this year for pension advice.

But before you jump to amend your returns for future years, remember that only a few years ago investments category was hit many times harder than the pension sector, the amount you are likely to pay is not revealed until after the year end and anyway they change the calculations every few years.