The PFS Paraplanner Panel is looking for four new members to join the team, as it expands its proposition, including a new conference in May in Manchester.
The panel was set up to help with the development and communication of skills, techniques, training and good practise in all things paraplanning and to make sure paraplanners’ interests are represented at the PFS. This is reflected in the training and events that the PFS put on,” says Alan Gow, chair of the panel. “We’re here to support the paraplanning community and to try to provide good quality content to help paraplanners do what they do.”
This includes organising paraplanner conferences, which this year will run twice, on 12 May in London and 21 May in Manchester; online training sessions, called Paraplanner Labs, where the panel hosts expert speakers on specific topics, such as retirement income and compliance; and regular articles by panel members in Professional Paraplanner and the PFS quarterly magazine.
The panel also undertakes specific projects to help raise the profile of paraplanning and provide useful guide and insights into key issues. In 2024 the panel published a Suitability Report Writing Guide and is currently working on an updated version of Getting Started in Paraplanning, aimed at prospective and new paraplanners, to help attract new talent to the profession, which is due to be launched in conjunction with the conferences in May.
The panel meets 4 times a year, twice virtually and twice face-to-face, where the members discuss what they want to achieve and the areas where they feel they can best add value to the paraplanning profession and put together the agenda for the next quarter. “We’re looking at where we should focus and what content we can provide for paraplanners at different levels and stages of their careers,” Alan says.
“We all get stuck in on the conferences, which need a good six months to organise, coming up with speakers we feel will provide value to the community and give good quality CPD. That could be based around changes in legislation or new products, soft skills, anything that we think paraplanners would benefit from. At the 2025 conference we ran a session with members of the panel on stage answering questions chosen by the audience, which got very positive feedback.
“We run 6-8 Paraplanner Labs a year, and we take it in turns to host them. We’ll also work on projects like the Guides. Not everyone works on everything. The panel are all volunteers, so they work on what best suits them and share the responsibilities.
“Paraplanners can often get siloed in their firms, doing things the way the firm has always done it, so we want to help them get different perspectives and get out to meet other paraplanners to talk about how they do things.”
The panel is not restricted to experienced paraplanners, Alan emphasises. “You could be pretty new to the profession and still have something to say about that experience and how it can be improved for other people. You don’t have to have been paraplanning for years to do this. If you find yourself thinking, ‘I wish somebody would do x, y or z’, that’s the kind of thinking that would fit really well into the panel.”
“We’re advocates for paraplanning. We’re all very passionate about what we do and I think that’s a really common trait in paraplanners. Being part of the panel is taking that a step further by trying to help develop paraplanning and do what we can to support our community.”
With plans for expansion of the panel’s capabilities, Alan says they are looking for four new members to join. “We’re looking to provide more for the paraplanning community. We’re all volunteers, and we’ve got some of the most passionate and involved individuals as part of the team, but we don’t want the workload on any one person to be something that feels too much. The more members we have the more we can achieve.”
If you’d like to learn more about being a panel member, please contact Alan at [email protected] or if you’d like to get involved straight away, you can find the application form HERE.
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