Job Description

Advice Quality Specialist – 9 Month FTC

Job Title: Advice Quality Specialist

Working Pattern: 35 hours per week, Monday-Friday

Base Location: Flexible - Hybrid Working (3 days office, 2 days from home)

Position: Full-Time - Fixed Term Contract (9 months)

Reporting to the Advice Quality Manager, you’ll play a key role in supporting high standards of financial planning advice and ensuring good client outcomes. Through independent quality assurance, you’ll provide valuable insight into advice quality and contribute to continuous improvement and “right first time” outcomes. Your success will be measured by the quality and timeliness of your QA activity, your contribution to reducing recurring file quality errors, and your ability to identify and escalate emerging trends and risks.

What you’ll be doing

Advice Quality & Suitability Reviews – You’ll review suitability reports and associated client files against FCA requirements and internal standards, assessing the quality and suitability of advice and highlighting opportunities for improvement to support consistently high-quality client outcomes.

Outcome Testing – you’ll conduct outcome testing to ensure advice delivers good client outcomes in line with Consumer Duty requirements. You’ll assess whether recommendations are suitable, clear, and aligned with the clients’ needs

Theme & Trend Analysis – you’ll identify the recurring themes and trends in file gaps, advice quality, and errors, escalating issues to the Advice Quality Manager. You’ll support the development of insights to improve advice standards

Quality Assurance & Remediation – you’ll provide constructive feedback to advisers and supervisors, monitor the completion of remedial actions, and support initiatives to reduce repeat errors and improve overall advice quality

Management Information & Reporting - you’ll maintain accurate records of QA activity and file review outcomes. You’ll contribute to management information (MI) and reporting on advice quality trends and risks. You’ll support the production of oversight reports for governance forums

Stakeholder Engagement - You’ll work closely with the T&C, Risk & Compliance, and Advice teams to drive continuous improvement, provide feedback that supports adviser development, and contribute to initiatives that promote excellent outcomes

What expertise you’ll bring to the role

The mandatory criteria you’ll need are:

• Level 4 Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning
• Strong understanding of suitability, advice standards, and FCA requirements
• Experience reviewing financial planning files and suitability reports
• Excellent attention to detail with a proactive, outcome-focused approach
• Strong analytical thinking skills with the ability to provide constructive challenge
• Collaborate effectively with colleagues and stakeholders to achieve positive outcomes
• Adaptability and Resilience

The worthy skills to bring which would be beneficial to the role are:

• Experience within Advice Quality, T&C or Compliance functions
• Chartered Status
• Knowledge of Consumer Duty and outcome testing frameworks

What’s in it for you?

• A competitive salary
• 25 days holiday per year, increasing to 28 days with continuous length of service (plus bank holidays)
• Flexible working opportunities
• A strong employee benefits package, including but certainly not limited to private medical insurance, group income protection, EAP, days off for volunteering, and free healthy breakfast options in the office

Who are we?

Ascot Lloyd is one of the UK's leading independent financial planning and wealth management firms, providing expert advice on pensions, investments, retirement planning, tax and estate planning to help clients achieve their long-term financial goals. With over 39,000 clients and 200 financial advisors, we provide clear, jargon free, financial advice that simplifies the complexities of finance into actionable steps.

Learn more about our values at Home | Ascot Lloyd

Working at Ascot Lloyd

SM&CR Responsibilities

As an FCA regulated Company, Ascot Lloyd are required to adhere to the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR), to develop a culture where employees take personal responsibility for their own actions.

Individual Conduct Rules:

1. You must act with integrity
2. You must act with due care, skill and diligence
3. You must be open and co-operative with the FCA, PRA and other regulators
4. You must pay due regard to the interests of customers and treat them fairly
5. You must observe proper standards of market conduct
6. You must act to deliver good outcomes for clients

At Ascot Lloyd, we celebrate individuality and champion equal opportunities for all. Our commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion is woven into our culture through a vibrant program of initiatives and activities. We believe that a diverse team drives innovation and success, and we’re dedicated to creating an environment of expertise where everyone can thrive. Ascot Lloyd invests heavily in professional development tailored for your career progression where employees can access a range of career paths across different specialisms, Whatever your ambitions, we provide the support and resources to help you reach your full potential

Disclaimer: Please do not email us a copy of your CV to our inbox, as this will not be reviewed. Please apply directly through our website. We may close for applications early depending on the volume of applications.