The Edexcel level 3 NVQ and Award in Providing Financial Advice offer ways of demonstrating to clients that their financial advisor has met, and operates to, an independently set national standard of competence. Advisors with the award must have met both the competence requirements of the Financial Services Authority and additional standards of customer service.

For employers, the awards provide a qualification against which to benchmark employees’ training and competence, and offer an ideal training vehicle for both existing financial advisors and new entrants. The qualifications are a major aspect of the Financial Services Skills Council’s Apprenticeship framework – an exciting way employers can tackle the problems of succession planning, helping to bring young people into the profession.