The proportion of old IFP members that kept their membership going after the CISI merger dropped to about 50% back in May but has risen again to 82%.

Financial Planning Today has been told that, despite nearly 1 in 5 former IFP members being lost, as revealed at last week’s conference, the trend has been towards a return.

And in the last fortnight 15 lapsed memberships have been renewed.

Jackie Lockie Chartered FCSI, CISI deputy head of Financial Planning, has been encouraged by positive responses and support offered to her after her speech at the CISI Financial Planning Conference in Celtic Manor last week.

She called for disgruntled or doubting members to give the CISI a proper chance and to get involved more, as the first anniversary of the merger in November approaches. 

Ms Lockie and Campbell Edgar Chartered FCSI, CISI head of Financial Planning, only took on the roles in May and she stressed there had been a time of transition.

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She said keeping 82% of former IFP members on board “I think is a fantastic achievement” and insisted the 18% of leavers was “not reflective of those don’t want to be involved”. She explained that this total included people retiring, those in ill health and other reasons apart from “deciding it’s not for them”.

The CISI has also been boosted with a flurry of renewals lately, she revealed.

“Of the people in the Financial Planning forum that didn’t pay their membership, 15 people have reapplied and paid for membership,” she said.

“I think hopefully people will now start to see things are being done rather than it just happening behind the scenes and people will start to come back.”

The system of membership renewal changed for former IFP members to bring the date in line with the 38,000 already in the CISI. Everyone had to renew on 1 April.

Ms Lockie believes there were some “logistical issues” and “confusion” and said the CISI “weren’t as clear as we could’ve been” but believes this was a one off situation due to transitional arrangements.

She said that she and Mr Edgar had identified problems early on that members weren’t happy with and they have been working hard in the background trying to make things better. They have been trying to “smooth out bumps” without “shouting from the rooftops” about it.

She believes that members are beginning to see this, especially after the conference. In the long run things will improve, she pledged.

Ms Lockie, who worked for the IFP from 1999, said: “It means a lot to Campbell and I or we wouldn’t have taken up the roles. We are passionate and want to play our role to support membership.

“You hope people will give you a break and see that you’ve made an effort.”

She was pleased with how the conference went, overall. So far more than 4 in 10 respondents to a Financial Planning Today poll rated it ‘excellent’. About 1 in 5 said they were disappointed.

She said: “As with any big event there’s always hiccups along the way, it’s our first year.”

A few problems had been flagged up, such as the main gala dinner meal, with a “very disappointing” beef dish “tough as old boots” and the booking system for the event smartphone app not functioning as desired, Ms Lockie said.

Due to it being a time of transition it “wasn’t as slick as it was with the IFP”, she said.

But she and her team are already in discussions with members about how to make improvements for next year. She said she was delighted with constructive feedback and support from attendees.

The CISI is already planning for next year and will continue collecting feedback via email and then report to the first forum meeting next month.

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