Tomorrow (Friday 30 November) is the last day for advisers to submit their applications for a Statement of Professional Standing to the Institute of Financial Planning in time for the RDR deadline.
Friday 30 November is the latest that Financial Planners can submit their gap-fill and qualifications in order to be ready by the 31 December deadline. After this date, the IFP cannot guarantee it will be ready in time. Financial Planners must have already chosen the IFP as their Accredited Body.
Turnaround times are five working days from when the application is received but may be longer as it gets closer to the deadline or if additional verification is required.
An SPS will confirm to clients and to the regulator that advisers are suitably qualified and ethical in their practice.
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If an adviser has met their RDR requirements and applied for their SPS but not received it yet due to administrative issues, the Financial Services Authority has allowed a period of 60 days grace (until 1 March) to obtain an SPS. However, advisers will still need to complete all their qualifications and gap-fill before 31 December 2012.
If they do not meet these requirements, they will not be able to continue trading as a retail investment adviser in 2013. This covers all employees who are advising on packaged products, friendly society tax-exempt policies, securities and derivatives.
The only exception is if a member's IFP membership year begins on 1 January 2013 where they can apply for an SPS until 21 December.
If you have any questions or wish to apply for your SPS contact Sue Leech on 0117 945 2470 or click here http://www.financialplanning.org.uk/applying-your-sps 

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