FCA regulation

AdviceWorks provides a money advice service to beneficiaries of a number of occupational benevolent funds. It is important that you understand the legal and regulatory basis for this service.

AdviceWorks is owned and run by Jeff Brown. Jeff has worked in the field of money and debt advice for many years having previously worked for Citizens Advice, National Debtline and a mortgage lender. In addition to providing a free to client money advice service he is an approved tutor for the Money Advice Trust, is a member of the Institute of Money Advisers and holds the Certificate in Money Advice Practice; MIMA (Cert).

The service offered to beneficiaries by AdviceWorks provides generic financial guidance and regulated debt counselling. The generic financial guidance service offers help on a wide range of practical money issues including mortgages, council tax, credit and basic savings products, welfare benefits and tax credits and pensions.

You should note that generic financial guidance does not provide product specific advice on regulated financial products. For example, if you are seeking advice on how to find a suitable mortgage product, the money adviser will discuss different types of mortgages and how to access information on the range of current deals but you will not be advised to take out a specific product from a specific lender. The money adviser will make you aware of www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk who can help with seeking regulated financial advice and also provides free, clear, unbiased advice on money management and financial products. Because it only offers generic financial guidance, AdviceWorks is not required to seek regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for guidance on, for example, mortgages or savings products.

The regulatory approach for debt counselling is different. It is practically not possible to give generic financial guidance on debt because any discussion will almost invariably consider the options for repaying debt and the relative merits of available debt options.

AdviceWorks is, therefore regulated by the FCA in respect of debt counselling and debt adjusting. This means that the adviser can give specific advice on how to deal with debt problems. If appropriate, the adviser is also regulated to contact creditors on your behalf. You can also get free of charge debt counselling from www.nationaldebtline.org, www.citizensadvice.org.uk, www.payplan.com or www.stepchange.org. For more details of where you can get free debt advice please see www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk.
The fact that AdviceWorks is regulated by the FCA for debt counselling and debt adjusting means that you have the option of complaining to the Financial Ombudsman Service if you are unhappy with the advice offered by the adviser. More information about the complaints procedure is available at www.adviceworks.com.

There is no charge to beneficiaries for this service. All costs are met by the fund as part of your package of help from them.  You can also be assured that AdviceWorks has no financial connection with any commercial debt management firm and receives no commission or other inducement as a result of any action you take as a result of your discussion with the adviser. The advice is impartial and confidential.

Please note that by completing and signing the fund’s ‘Authorisation for referral to AdviceWorks’ form, all relevant  information concerning your financial circumstances, a copy of your application form and copies of supporting documents you have submitted to the fund will be sent to AdviceWorks in order to assist in the money advice process. In addition to this, copies of all the money adviser’s reports, letters and your personal budgets will be sent to the fund to help them assess your application for charitable assistance.

AdviceWorks will securely store information in relation to yourself and your case for a maximum of six years. Any personal information will be used, stored and shared in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).