In the first of a regular series of articles for paraplanners considering taking the leap to become advisers, Hayley Rabbets – Head of Evergreen at Calton, shines a light on the journey to CAS.
If you’re a paraplanner thinking about becoming an adviser, you’ve almost certainly heard of Competent Adviser Status. The point at which you’re deemed ready to advise clients without supervision.
It sounds straightforward enough, right? Pass your exams, get supervised, get signed off, go.
Unfortunately, the reality is messier than that and for a lot of people, it’s the reason they never make the move at all.
In this article, I’ll run through what CAS actually is, why it causes so many problems, and what you can do to navigate it.
What CAS actually means
CAS isn’t a qualification. There’s no exam, no certificate, no pass mark that automatically triggers it. It’s a judgement call made by your firm, or more precisely, by the individual responsible for your Training and Competence (T&C), that you are ready to advise clients unsupervised.
To get there, you need to have passed your Level 4 Diploma in Financial Planning (or equivalent), completed a period of supervised practice, had your client files reviewed, and been assessed as meeting your firm’s own competency standards.
That last part is important – every firm sets its own bar; there is no universal benchmark.
So where does it go wrong?
In a few different places! But they tend to come back to the same root cause – lack of clarity.
Some firms don’t have a defined CAS pathway at all. They’ll tell you that you’ll get there “when you’re ready,” without ever explaining what ready looks like, how many files need reviewing, or who makes the final call.
People can spend years in limbo, technically working towards CAS, but with no real sense of progress or timeline.
Others have a pathway on paper but not in practice. The supervision arrangements are vague, the file review feedback is inconsistent, and the person nominally responsible for your T&C has twenty other things on their plate.
You’re moving forward, but slowly, and often without the support that would actually help you develop.
Then there’s the commercial reality, which doesn’t get talked about enough. During your CAS period, many firms will take a larger share of any revenue you generate, because they carry the regulatory risk while you’re supervised.
That’s not unreasonable. But if it’s not explained upfront, it can feel like you’re being penalised for something that isn’t your fault.
And if the pathway drags on longer than expected, it starts to cost you in a very tangible way.
What does good look like?
I spend a lot of time talking to advisers who’ve been through this, and the ones who found it manageable have a few things in common.
They knew what the pathway looked like before they started, with clearly set out criteria covering how many supervised cases, what file review scores are expected, who signs off and when.
They had a supervisor who was invested in them and was actively engaged. Someone who gave real feedback on files, flagged things early, and treated the process as development rather than box-ticking.
And they understood the commercial arrangement. They knew what they’d earn during the supervised period, what the split would shift to once they achieved CAS, and roughly how long the whole thing was likely to take.
Transparency makes an enormous difference.
What you can do
If you’re exploring a move into advising and CAS feels like a barrier, ask direct questions before you commit to anything.
What does your CAS pathway look like? Roughly how many files, over what period?
Who supervises me and how often?
What happens if it takes longer than expected, commercially, and in terms of support?
Can I speak to someone who has been through it with you?
A firm that can’t answer those questions clearly, or gets defensive when you ask them, is raising red flags.
To be clear, it is absolutely understandable that they have to manage risks within their business. And there is inevitably a degree of uncertainty as to when they will feel comfortable signing you off.
Equally, some of the timescale will depend on you and how quickly you can find clients, across a variety of different circumstances.
However, they should be open to the discussion and be willing to map it out as much as possible, showing that they want to support you through it.
When the process is transparent, well-supervised, and treated as proper professional development rather than a regulatory hurdle to get over as quickly as possible, most people come through it fine. The problem is that not enough firms do it that way.
If you’re a paraplanner wondering whether the jump is worth it, don’t let CAS put you off. Just make sure you know what you’re walking into.
Hayley Rabbets is Head of Evergreen, a new proposition and pathway for self-employed financial planners within Calton. Discover more at Evergreen by Calton’s LinkedIn page.
Main image: jakub-zerdzicki-yKnIbJV0RbY-unsplash
