It’s a debate that’s been raging for the best part of a year now, and the subject of a Paraplanner Standard shows no signs of disappearing any time soon, writes Jenny Ryan.

I for one am very glad about this. I’m part of the committee of members working with Michelle to design the Standard, seeing if we can turn this concept into a reality.

Based on the results of our first committee meeting I’m very confident that we can make this happen. Our membership is broad, ranging from Paraplanners, to Planning firm MDs, to compliance experts and recruitment managers.

All of us feel passionately that a Standard could both help to cement and elevate the status of Paraplanners, but also potentially offer the beginning of the end of the current Paraplanner shortage that our profession seems to be experiencing nationwide.

To date we’ve had our very productive first conference call. During this we agreed on a few of the basics and some key ingredients of the Standard.

• We want to keep the term ‘Paraplanner’ – rather than starting again with something new!

• We want those who apply for the Standard to have a minimum qualification level; consensus was that this would probably be the Diploma or equivalent (I know this will be a contentious one – we felt it was important that Paraplanners be able to converse on an equal basis with planners from a technical perspective)

• We don’t want gaining the Standard to be another exam; it should be about demonstrating knowledge, experience, and personal characteristics

• We want the Standard to be accessible and achievable to all from a cost perspective, and renewable ideally on an annual basis

• The Standard should include a job description for a Paraplanner, but also for a Financial Planner and Financial Planning Administrator; we hope this should address areas of crossover or duplication of responsibilities across firms

• We’d like the Standard to be assessed in person; this might not work from a cost control perspective but Skype could be an option

• We want the Standard to be about Paraplanenrs demonstrating a range of abilities, skills, behaviours and morals; we will try to avoid being prescriptive where possible to avoid ruling out those Paraplanners who might not do specific things like cash flow planning (for example where a firm doesn’t use it!)

As you can see we’re working hard to make the Standard a reality. I think it’s fair to say we came away from our first discussion all feeling excited, energised and proud of the profession of Paraplanning.

The next stage involves a first draft of the Standard which we’ll all then review and get together to discuss again.

Michelle’s plan is to get the Standard up and running within six months, so watch this space!"