The debt advice sector has developed a first of its kind apprenticeship qualification. The qualification Standard and End Point Assessment have now been submitted to the approval board of the Institute of Apprenticeships. It is expected that the apprenticeship will launch within the next six months.
The apprenticeship is a cross-sector qualification developed in collaboration with over twenty organisations, including free-to-client and commercial debt advice providers, trade bodies, creditors and training providers.
Debt advice is the only area of financial advice that doesn’t have a minimum required ‘threshold level’ standard that advisors must meet in order to give advice. The need for a debt advice qualification was also highlighted by Peter Wyman in his Independent Review of the Funding of Debt Advice, published last year.
The debt advice apprenticeship is being developed in conjunction with the Institute of Apprenticeships and covers the key knowledge, skills and behaviours that a debt adviser needs.
Sebrina McCullough, External Relations manager at Gregory Pennington, who is chairing the working group, said: “This qualification, which will be accessible to advisers from across the sector, will help to increase the quality and consistency of debt advice and recognise advisers as professionals providing an essential service to individuals in financial difficulty. The qualification will seek to establish debt advice as an attractive professional career and help get more people into the sector.”
We will be running a session on the Debt Advice Trailblazer Group at the MALG Conference 2019.