PFS Board Digest - April 2026
Publication date:
23 April 2026
Last updated:
23 April 2026
Author(s):
Carla Brown FPFS, Chartered Financial Planner, Oakmere Wealth Management
We held our latest PFS Board meeting on Thursday 16 April. We began by noting the additions of Dr Alan Whittle FPFS and Adam Harper to the PFS Board and welcomed them to their first meeting. We also welcomed the appointment of a new Executive Director, Member Engagement, who we will introduce to members in coming weeks. They will play a pivotal role in strengthening the value, influence and day‑to‑day experience of PFS membership, building strong engagement and volunteer networks so all our members feel genuinely supported, connected and proud to belong to their professional body.
Returning to our agenda, we began by discussing the organisation’s latest financial data. We noted that the level of our reserves remains well above that which would be anticipated for an organisation of our size, notwithstanding the exceptional investment decisions we have made over the past year, including in our flagship Pathway to the Profession initiative – more on that later. Given this very healthy position, we agreed to further investment in this year’s Festival of Financial Planning, to ensure that our members benefit from the very highest quality speakers and associated professional development – please do register, today! Planning for that event comes off the back of positive feedback about our Spring Roadshows, which in turn built on the success of those held in 2025.
Moving on, we received an update on work being undertaken on some of the major projects for this year, including business solutions, Professional Pathways, and Corporate Chartered status. We also discussed apprenticeships and the inaugural roundtable session that we held around ‘The Great Wealth Transfer’, which will be so very important to informing the evolution of our sector and the work of many professionals over coming years. We will be conducting further research in this area over the course of 2026 and beyond and look forward to inviting more member contributions.
We returned to have a more detailed discussion around Pathway to the Profession and heard that we have now exceeded our target to help 500 people take their first step into financial planning through PFS membership and entry for their first R0 assessment. Achievement of this target has come after just nine months! We explored how we could further help those already in progress achieve success and what more we can do to help them take their next steps once they have passed that first exam.
We also agreed to some further investments, including in piloting summer school and careers fair programmes, as well as potentially developing a new Competent Advisor Status blueprint for firms. We’ll have more to say on all these initiatives in coming weeks.
We concluded our meeting by agreeing the date of our 2026 AGM, which will be 23 September. It will be held at our Officers’ Conference in Birmingham. We look forward to seeing many of you there.
Our next PFS Board meeting will be a joint meeting with the CII Group Board on 19 May.
Carla Brown
PFS Board Chair and PFS President
