A former IFP director says he has big shoes to fill after taking up a new role with Financial Planning business the Beaufort Group.

Phil Billingham, who served as an IFP director for five years until 2012, becomes a non-executive director.

He is taking over from David Ingram, a co-founder of Threesixty and former president of the Personal Finance Society, who held the position for three years.

Mr Billingham, who heads up The Phil Billingham Partnership, started yesterday.

He told Financial Planning Today: “The role is to be, as any non-executive would, a critical friend, to share my experience in a constructive way, to challenge and support the executive, and to act as a source of information and as a resource.

“David Ingram leaves big shoes to fill - he’s been in the role for three years, that’s a challenge to make sure I step up but it’s exciting times in financial services at the moment.

“It’s a growing company, I’ve known a few of the key players for a long time including Simon (Goldthorpe - Beaufort executive chairman). I’m sure the role will evolve.

“Peter Williams, another non-exec, and I go back to 1993 on the SOFA board together. He’s a good friend I’ve known for a long time and I’m very much looking forward to working along him again.”

Looking at the most important tasks to tackle for Financial Planning firms generally in 2016, he said bosses would need to be certain they understand the ramifications of the sunset clause and “make sure they’ve got that under control”.

The retirement reforms will continue to be a challenge too, he said.

He said: “We are still at the early stages of understanding how the pension reforms play out after the initial froth, and we need to see what the longer term effects are in terms of pension planning.”

He believes the IFP’s merger with the CISI and the move to create a bigger membership is “clearly a great opportunity”.

He said the challenge for the former board, now the IFP Financial Planning Professional Forum, headed by chairman Alan Dick CFPCM, is to keep up the momentum.

Financial Planning has a “great story to tell”, he said, and he wants the profession to show more newcomers that there is a clear career path, just as there is with other professions such as accountancy.