Endorsement of Training & Competence Schemes
Our drive towards developing a scheme to endorse firms’ Training & Competence (T&C) arrangements is still very much a priority focus as we move through 2008.
Last year we consulted extensively with the whole of the financial services industry on the scope for developing the scheme.
This year as we progress the project, we have continued to work with and canvass the views of a broad range of interested parties including major employers, SMEs, distribution networks, professional and trade bodies etc. as part of our continued efforts to develop the Endorsement for T&C schemes.
We sought on-line feedback at each stage of the development.
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Why do we need an Endorsement for T&C scheme?
European legislation and a more principles based approach by the FSA have both impacted on T&C.
The wholesale sector has been removed from the Training and Competence sourcebook and a new, reduced sourcebook for the retail market has been implemented.
These changes, whilst largely welcomed have resulted in less certainty for the industry.
The aim of this project is to provide standards and guidance to address this uncertainty which will gain Industry Guidance status under the FSA procedure.
We will use this guidance to develop a scheme that can endorse a firm’s T&C arrangements.
The Endorsement scheme will fit into our existing Accreditation suite.
FSSC Director for Skills and Development, Sarah Thwaites, said:
“This is a good opportunity for the industry to establish good practice standards for Training and Competence, a key element in any firm’s development of its staff, application of Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) and business performance.”
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Face to face consultation
We engaged with and canvassed views from major employers and SMEs as well as with a broad range of interested parties, in a series of consultation events, including roadshows in Leeds, Birmingham, Cardiff, London, Belfast, Edinburgh
The sessions focused on the newly developed Draft Standards and Guidance for Training and Competence which are appropriate for all sectors of the industry and which directly influence business performance.
Participants had an opportunity to participate and feedback on the draft outputs and put forward suggestions for improvement.
The format for the consultation events:
- present the project purpose and aims
- review the relevance and purpose of FSA confirmed Industry Guidance, with specific reference to this project
- update attendees of progress made against the development plan
- look through the draft guidance and gain an initial impression
- comment and provide feedback on the impact, relevance and ease of use of the standards and guidance
- confirm level of continued industry involvement in the project.
Feedback from engagement and consultation events were particularly complementary about the standards and could see a good fit within their businesses. The mix of attendees were representative of the whole sector and were very pleased FSSC had undertaken this work and received extremely positive comments and confirmed interest and anticipation of the outcome.
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Online Consultation
In addition to the consultation events there was an opportunity to reply to some specific questions and provide feedback which gave firms from the financial sector and industry bodies to reply to some specific questions and provide feedback relative to their firms. Here is a link to some of the feedback received Click to access charts
Next Stages
We have now completed the development process of the draft guide to T&C. We will be seeking confirmation of Industry guidance status with the FSA over the next few weeks and at the same time further developing our plans for an Endorsement scheme based on the FSA recognised Industry Guidance.
We are also considering the potential for a full Accreditation scheme which will provide firms with an opportunity to benchmark their application of T&C against industry standards of good practice.
It is envisaged the Endorsement and potential Accreditation schemes will go firstly through a pilot phase, this pilot phase which will take 6 months to complete. We would like a mix of firms to take part in this pilot and any firm, (whatever size) to register their interest in taking part please register your interest directly Diane McGrattan diane.mcgrattan@fssc.org.uk
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