More than a third (37%) of financial advice firms have changed their fee structure as a result of completing the FCA’s Consumer Duty fair value exercise.

A further 3% of firms, surveyed by provider Royal London, said they planned to make changes to their fees as a result.

One in five (21%) firms who had changed their fee structure found the changes needed were difficult, with a lot of work needed to comply with the new rules.

Despite this, two thirds (67%) of the advisers surveyed agreed that the work needed to carry out the fair value assessments had been worthwhile.

Despite the changes, few advice firms had discussed Consumer Duty with their clients.

Only one in five (20%) had issued updates to their clients about fair value under Consumer Duty, some 41% had mentioned the rules when asked by clients and 39% had not mentioned Consumer Duty to clients at all.

Jamie Jenkins, director of policy at Royal London, said: “Consumer Duty has prompted a great deal of activity from all areas of the financial services industry and, while this may have initially seemed onerous, it’s clear that it is making a difference to how firms operate in the interests of clients and customers.

"Financial advisers are closer to their clients than anyone else in the value chain, so they are very well placed to understand the changes needed to deliver good outcomes.”

Royal London surveyed the LangCat’s 1,300 member Adviser Research Panel in September, with 160 responses received. 72% of respondents were part of a directly authorised firm, with a further 16% being network members.