Consumer Duty Support That Goes Beyond Documentation

Meeting your Consumer Duty obligations requires ongoing, evidence-based work across your entire business. We manage that work for you.

Consumer Duty

The FCA’s Consumer Duty regulation represents one of the most significant shifts in the way advice firms are expected to operate in a generation. It moves the regulatory focus away from process and disclosure and towards outcomes, requiring firms to demonstrate not just that they have followed the right steps, but that their clients are genuinely receiving good outcomes as a result of the advice and service they receive.

For many smaller IFA firms, the challenge of Consumer Duty is not understanding what it requires. It is finding the time and resources to carry out the ongoing, structured work that the regulation demands and to produce the evidence that demonstrates it is being done. The FCA is clear that it expects firms to be able to evidence how their clients are receiving good outcomes.

We manage the practical delivery of Consumer Duty compliance on your behalf. This covers the full range of work the regulation requires, from client segmentation and product assessments through to your annual Consumer Duty Board Report, carried out on an ongoing basis and documented in a way that gives you and the FCA a clear, evidenced picture of how your firm is meeting its obligations.

Client Segmentation & Target Market

Understanding who your clients are, what their needs are, and whether your services are genuinely suited to them is central to Consumer Duty. The FCA expects firms to have clearly defined client segments and documented target market assessments that demonstrate the firm has thought carefully about who it is serving and whether its services deliver appropriate outcomes for those clients.

We work with you to define your client segments in a meaningful, evidenced way and to produce target market assessments that accurately reflect the clients your firm serves. This is not a one-off exercise. As your client bank evolves and as market conditions change, your segmentation and target market assessments need to be kept current. We review and update these regularly as part of the ongoing Consumer Duty programme, ensuring that your documentation continues to reflect the reality of your business.

Due Diligence

The Consumer Duty requires firms to take responsibility for the outcomes clients receive, not just from the advice they give, but from the products and services they recommend. This means firms need to carry out and document thorough due diligence on the platforms and providers they use, and to be able to demonstrate that the firms they work with are meeting the standards the regulation requires.

We carry out structured platform and provider due diligence on your behalf, reviewing the services, costs, and client outcomes delivered by the platforms and providers your firm recommends. We document the findings clearly and ensure that your due diligence activity is reviewed on a regular basis. Where concerns arise about a platform or provider’s ability to deliver good client outcomes, we flag these and support you in deciding how to respond.

Get In Touch

Products & Services Assessment

The FCA expects advice firms to have assessed the products and services they recommend and to be satisfied that they represent fair value for the clients who receive them. This assessment needs to go beyond cost and consider whether the product or service is appropriate for the clients it is being provided to, and whether it is delivering the outcomes they need.

We will conduct a formal Product & Service assessment for your firm, reviewing the range of solutions you recommend against the needs and characteristics of your client segments. We document the outcomes of these assessments clearly and ensure they are reviewed and updated regularly to reflect any changes in your product range, your client base, or the market in which those products operate.

Value Assessment

Price and value are one of the four outcomes the Consumer Duty is built around, and it is an area the FCA has made clear it will scrutinise closely. Firms need to be able to demonstrate that the total cost of the advice and services their clients receive is reasonable relative to the benefit those clients receive, and that no group of clients is paying charges that are disproportionate to the value they are getting.

We carry out price and value assessments for your firm, reviewing your charging structure against the services delivered and the outcomes achieved for different segments of your client bank. We document the methodology and findings clearly, identify any areas where value may be difficult to evidence, and work with you to address these. As with all Consumer Duty work, this is an ongoing exercise rather than a one-off review.

Management Information Collection

Consumer Duty requires firms to monitor client outcomes on an ongoing basis and to be able to demonstrate to the FCA that this monitoring is happening and is informing how the business is run. This means having the right management information in place, reviewed regularly, and reported to senior management in a structured and meaningful way.

We collate and compile the management information your firm needs to monitor its Consumer Duty performance, drawing together data from across the business to give a clear picture of the outcomes your clients are receiving. We present this to your senior management team on a monthly or quarterly basis in a structured report that sets out where the firm is performing well, where improvements may be needed, and what actions are being taken. This gives your senior managers the information they need to fulfil their Consumer Duty responsibilities and provides a documented audit trail of ongoing outcomes monitoring.

Annual Consumer Duty Report

Every FCA-authorised advice firm is required to produce an annual Consumer Duty Report, signed off by the firm’s management, that sets out how the firm has assessed its compliance with the Consumer Duty over the past year and what actions it has taken or plans to take to address any shortfalls. The FCA has been clear that it expects these reports to be substantive, evidenced documents rather than high-level statements of intent.

We prepare your annual Consumer Duty Report on your behalf, drawing on the monitoring activity, assessments, and management information gathered throughout the year. The report sets out clearly how your firm has met each of the Consumer Duty outcomes, the evidence that supports those conclusions, and any areas where further work is planned. Because the report is built on a full year of documented compliance activity rather than assembled at the last minute, it gives the FCA an evidenced account of how Consumer Duty is being managed within your business.

Get In Touch

If you would like to discuss how Advice Firm Compliance Ltd can support your firm’s Consumer Duty obligations, please get in touch. We are happy to have an initial conversation about where your firm currently stands and what ongoing support might look like, with no obligation.

Contact Us

What Our Customers Have To Say

  • Ian has taken a significant burden off our shoulders since we began working together in 2025. Having been referred by a trusted advisor, the experience has been seamless—informative, straightforward, and, most importantly, consistently reliable. His expertise and flexibility, particularly in adapting to and enhancing our systems and processes, have made him a pleasure to work with. I move forward with real confidence that our business is well-positioned within a highly regulated environment.

    Simon Munday

Let’s Talk About Your Firm’s Compliance

If you would like to find out how Advice Firm Compliance Ltd can support your firm, please get in touch. We are happy to have an initial conversation about your compliance requirements with no obligation.

Get in touch

Latest news

All news

Let’s Talk About Your Firm’s Compliance

If you would like to find out how Advice Firm Compliance Ltd can support your firm, please get in touch. We are happy to have an initial conversation about your compliance requirements with no obligation.

Get in touch