Martin Bamford CFP^CM , managing director of Informed Choice, has set up a campaign aiming to find a fairer way to fund the Financial Services Compensation Scheme after receiving a heavy interim levy.

Investment intermediaries received an interim levy from FSCS for £60m in March to cover the cost of failures of firms including Keydata and MF Global.

A further £22m will be requested from the FSCS in July as the annual levy and there is scope for another £18m to be requested as advisers can pay out up to a maximum of £100m.

Mr Bamford has designated 25 April as an action day and is encouraging advisers to email Financial Secretary to the Treasury Mark Hoban MP with their thoughts on the levy.

Mr Bamford said: “The FSCS is an important piece of the jigsaw when it comes to providing consumer confidence. The way it is structured and funded is flawed, so we will continue pushing for a reform of the system.

“Our preferred outcome is a pre-funded FSCS with an explicit product levy based on the risk profile of the product/fund being sold.”

Advisers should visit: http://www.fscslevyactiongroup.co.uk/action/ and sign an online petition and send an email to Mr Hoban.

The email requests that the FSA introduces a more rational categorisation of firms in their consultation paper on FSCS funding models. The recent levy had to be paid by financial advisers for losses incurred by fund managers and stockbrokers.  Contrastingly fund managers were not liable for payments.

It also requests greater publicity of the level of compensation paid out by financial advisers and how the FSCS is an industry-funded compensation scheme.