‘Until everybody’s qualified, we’ll never been seen as a profession’: TAA CEO

After an opinion piece published on ifa written by Neil Macdonald last November – in which he said advisers will exit the industry in droves if the current requirement for existing advisers with no degree to have an approved qualification by 1 January 2026 is not addressed – he followed that up with another article calling for government to set a “firm date” after which older advisers without relevant qualifications can no longer practise.

On a new episode of the ifa Show, Mr Macdonald said the changes are all about moving the industry towards being a profession.

“… we’ve got some 70-year-olds who are doing their bachelors courses at the moment, or their masters actually. And so they’ve decided to get on with it and do their studies. But it’s really important that this is not about a free kick,” Mr Macdonald explained.

“We’ve been accused of ageism as well: ‘Oh well, it’s just for older people’… no, it’s actually to say, ‘We want to try and be a profession and until everybody’s qualified, we’ll never be seen as a profession by other people.’

“It’s not about whether your skills and your knowledge and your attitude’s there, whether it’s competent or not. It’s about can other people look at that and say: ‘Everybody in that profession is qualified.’”

Mr Macdonald recently backed government’s Education Standards for Financial Advisers policy paper that proposed a pathway that streamlines the minimum education requirements and recognises on-the-job experience for individuals with 10 or more years of full-time experience.

Listen to the full podcast with Mr Macdonald here.

Neil Griffiths

Neil is the Deputy Editor of the wealth titles, including ifa and InvestorDaily.

Neil is also the host of the ifa show podcast.