The Personal Finance Society is becoming increasingly influential in shaping Government policy, the body’s chief executive said this morning.

Keith Richards told delegates at the PFS Financial Planning Symposium at Wembley that he now holds frequent meetings with the Treasury and FCA and explained how keen Government Ministers had been to listen to the organisation’s messages.

The PFS is not afraid to speak out on regulation where poor consumer outcomes loom, Mr Richard said, as he told members they are all making a big difference already.

This month, the PFS has met the Treasury six times, the FCA four times and the DWP once.

Highlighting the growing influence of the PFS, he mentioned that one week after its response to the secondary annuities consultation, the Government announced it would bin the idea. The Treasury listened to concerns that were was too high a risk of consumer detriment, he said.

Mr Richards said: “We are becoming very quickly the default organisation to engage and participate in future Government policy decisions.”

He said members had often requested the body to step in to tackle regulation issues but it had been reluctant at times previously.

He said: “In the past we were often too frightened to put our head above the parapet because we didn’t want to be confused with a trade body but clearly we were missing the point of the question and the request.

“We do have visibility and a voice and we will tackle things like the cost of regulation.

“We shouldn’t be shy to lobby where it has a positive outcome for the public and a profound impact for clients.”

He said in 2015 he had an invite to meet Economy Secretary Harriet Baldwin and the first question she asked was ‘how do we increase access to advice?’ - which he said was “music to my ears”.

The Government was already alert to the issues around financial advice and of the need for FAMR and that too few consumers were able to access level of advice they needed, Mr Richards told delegates.

He said there was a “proper balance” in the thinking of the Government and its attitude to regulation and advice.

He said: “The Government has mandated what you do (financial advice) in their legislation, that is a massive endorsement of what you do, that is saying professional advice in complex situations is the only source to ensure the right outcomes.”

He congratulated “each and every one” of the attendees for the role they have played so far in developing Financial Planning and urged them to continue to make it a “true profession that we can all be proud of”.