iso22222 certification – guide for applicants · bs iso22222 certification guide for candidates...

BS ISO22222 Certification – Guide for candidates

About BS ISO22222 Certification..................................................................2

Benefits ........................................................................................................2 Certification process & procedures .............................................................3

Pre-requisite knowledge...............................................................................3 Certification standards..................................................................................3 Assessment process ....................................................................................4 Certification fee ............................................................................................6 Suspension/withdrawal of certification..........................................................6 Cancellation..................................................................................................7

What happens if I don’t pass? ......................................................................7 Appeals ........................................................................................................8 Complaints ...................................................................................................8

Appendix One – Appeals...............................................................................9 Grounds for an appeal ..............................................................................9 Circumstances not accepted as grounds for an appeal ............................9 Appeal fee.................................................................................................9

Appeals Procedure.....................................................................................9 The Impartiality Committee.....................................................................10 The review ..............................................................................................10 Appeal review options.............................................................................10 The Outcome..........................................................................................11

BS ISO22222 Certification Guide for candidates V.2. January 2009

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About BS ISO22222 Certification BS ISO22222 Certification confirms a financial planner’s conformity to the international ISO financial planning standards. The Certification demonstrates that your advice and skills have been benchmarked against the international standard; this helps you to demonstrate the quality of your financial planning knowledge & advice skills. BS ISO22222 assists in codifying best practice for financial advice. Please note that BS ISO22222 Certification does not confer an authorised status or replace any element or requirement of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) regulation or other regulatory body in the UK or the advisor’s home country.

Benefits There are numerous benefits of achieving BS ISO2222 to both you and your business. These include:

Demonstrating that your advice skills & knowledge have been benchmarked against an international standard

Receiving independent validation of your skills Receiving developmental feedback from highly qualified assessors BS ISO22222 Certification assists in enhancing customer confidence in

you and your business In addition, some Financial Planners may be able to gain an exemption from CII examination unit AF5 – Financial Planning Process.


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Certification process & procedures

Pre-requisite knowledge

The current entry requirement, as stated by BSI in the BS9222 Guidance document for the BS ISO2222 standards, is at Level 8 in the Scottish Qualifications Framework. This is equivalent to Level 4 in the National Qualifications Framework and is where the CII Diploma in Financial Planning has been benchmarked. Applicants should therefore have completed the Diploma in Financial Planning or equivalent prior to applying (please note this may be through completion of modules from different examining bodies; if you are unsure whether your combined learning meets the requirements please contact Certification Services for confirmation).

The BS ISO22222 standards require the Financial Planner to demonstrate that they are providing comprehensive advice across all areas i.e. IHT planning, retirement planning, protection & investment. It is strongly recommended that applicants review the Certification standards to ensure they will be able to demonstrate compliance with these standards.

Certification standards Full details of the BS ISO22222 standards can be purchased from BSI. Please follow the link below to access the standards: http://www.cii.co.uk/pages/as/ISO22222.aspx A summary of the standards are provided below:

The standard defines six steps of the personal financial planning process:

1. Establishing and defining the client and personal financial planner relationship.

2. Gathering client data and determining goals and expectations. 3. Analysing and evaluating the client's financial status. 4. Developing and presenting the financial plan. 5. Implementing the financial planning recommendations. 6. Monitoring the financial plan and the financial planning relationship.

http://www.cii.co.uk/pages/as/ISO22222.aspx

Assessment process The application form for BS ISO22222 certification is available from CII Certification Services – [email protected] A CII assessor will complete a face to face assessment with you at your normal place of work. Full details of the assessment process are provided below. Step 1 – You are required to complete the BS ISO22222 application form and to supply the information requested; this includes, performance measures (KPIs) and a list of cases written over the past 3 years which cover protection, investment, estate planning and pension planning cases written.

Stenis the Stassu Stwomaarereqto sta Wworooaltad

Performance indicators Where you have centrally produced Key Performance Indicators these should besubmitted with your application form. For applicants who do not have this informationproduced as a matter of course performance statistics should be collated in order tosupport your application. The BS ISO22222 standards require evidence todemonstrate persistency, spread of business, complaints, implementation (how manyclients take the advice provided), repeat business and compliance. Further detailsmay be found in the BS9222:2007 guidance document.

ep 2 – The application will be reviewed by CII Certification Services to sure all the necessary information has been supplied. If further information required the application will be returned to you with information regarding omissions; the initial application review fee is not refunded.

ep 3 – CII Certification Services will appoint an assessor to complete the sessment and will liaise with the both the assessor and you to agree a itable assessment date.

ep 4 – The CII appointed assessor will visit you at your normal place of rk. The assessment visit will take place on one day and whilst the audit y not take the whole day to complete you are advised to ensure that you free for the whole day to enable the assessor to gather all the evidence uired. The assessor will be evaluating your skills and knowledge in order gather the evidence to demonstrate achievement of the BS ISO22222 ndards.

here it is not appropriate to conduct an assessment at your normal place of rk e.g. where you work from home or where there are no private meeting ms, with prior notification the CII will liaise with you to agree a suitable

ernative location. Please note it will be your responsibility to meet any ditional costs incurred in securing an alternative assessment location.


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mailto:[email protected]

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Knowledge requirements

You are encouraged to self-assess your technical knowledge prior to the assessment day; reference to the relevant examination syllabuses on the CII website may be made e.g. J01 – Personal tax, J04 – Pension funding options. Regulatory updates from the PFS & FSA may also be of assistance.

Assessment visit (audit)

During the assessment visit the assessor will review a minimum of three client files; you are therefore advised to ensure that you will be able to access the client files listed in your application form. The files will be selected on a random basis and will cover all areas of financial planning. The assessor will conduct a structured interview with you regarding these files to ascertain what skills and knowledge were required (and demonstrated) to complete the advice process. Where it is not practical to access client files at short notice e.g. where they are stored electronically with prior notification the CII will liaise with the assessor to provide you with additional time to download the required information. In addition, you will be asked to role play certain scenarios e.g. introducing the fact find meeting. During the role plays you will be assessed against the BS ISO22222 standards relating to the area of advice covered; you will also be expected to complete the role play compliantly i.e. in line with any FSA Conduct of Business rules. You are advised to consider how best to clearly explain complex issues. As the assessment will be structured the assessor will ask probing questions to gather the required evidence of your knowledge & skills. The assessor may also ask you to work through calculations e.g. tax calculations. This will allow you to demonstrate your understanding of the rules relating to the area covered and also your ability to apply the methodology appropriately. You will be able to use any resource you would normally use in a client facing situation e.g. calculator, tax guides; this may also include a summary of the calculation to be completed although you will need to demonstrate your understanding of the process and be able to explain the process, in your own words, to the assessor in order to successfully demonstrate that you have the required skills and knowledge.

The assessment will be structured and time constrained. You are strongly advised not to provide ancillary information during the assessment (unless requested by the assessor) as this will not be an effective use of time and will not allow appropriate evidence to be collected.

tep 5 – Evidence gathered will be benchmarked against the BS ISO22222 ertification standards.

tep 6 – You will be informed of the certification decision.

tep 7 – Successful applicants will be subject to annual monitoring to ensure hey continue to meet the required standards. At the end of the certification eriod which is 5 years, these applicants will be required to be recertified.


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Data protection The CII will require access to your client files. CII adheres to the Data Protection Act and are registered data handlers. Further details of the DPA & CII registration can be found at www.cii.co.uk/cii/about/re/pro_obligations/data_protection.aspxYou should ensure that your DPA registration permits disclosure of information to the CII. Suitable recipient references may include: R404:Education & training establishments and examining bodies R405 Business associates & other professional advisers R408: Suppliers & providers of goods or services R410: Financial organisations and advisors R415: Trade, employer associations and professional bodies

Certification fee The certification fee information can be found on the CII website – www.cii.co.uk/accreditation or by calling CII Customer Services on 020 8989 8464. The Certification fee includes an application fee which is non refundable should your application be declined prior to the assessment day e.g. should you not meet the qualification entry requirements. The fee also includes the assessment fee and this covers the assessment audit which is a face to face assessment with a CII assessor. CII assessor’s travel fee will invoiced to you separately and you will be advised of these costs prior to the assessment audit.

Suspension/withdrawal of certification BS ISO22222 Certification may be suspended for the following reasons. Certified individual:

Not currently working in the industry e.g. due to illness, sabbatical, maternity leave, unemployment

Not supplying the necessary information to complete the annual surveillance

Misusing the CII Accreditation logo e.g. use of the logo on prohibited materials - rectification required


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http://www.cii.co.uk/accreditation

http://www.cii.co.uk/cii/about/re/pro_obligations/data_protection.aspx


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Subject to CII Disciplinary proceedings – suspension until outcome of proceedings completed (minor breach)

Non-payment of Certification fees BS ISO22222 Certification may be withdrawn for the following reasons. Certified individual:

Continuing to misuse the CII Accreditation logo – no rectification steps taken

Misrepresenting their Certified status CII Disciplinary proceedings finding against them Commits major breach of CII Code of Ethics & Conduct (Disciplinary

proceedings are instigated) Continues to fail to supply necessary information to complete the annual

surveillance – more than one month has passed since the annual surveillance was due

Continued non-payment of Certification fees – more than one month has passed since the annual surveillance was due

Is involved in criminal activity & is subject to criminal proceedings No longer working in the industry e.g. retirement, change of occupation,

death On withdrawal of Certification certificates are to be returned.

Cancellation Any individual or company shall be entitled to resign the certification on giving written notice to the CII. There is no entitlement to a refund of the Certification fees paid. The Certification certificate must be returned to the CII.

What happens if I don’t pass? Where a candidate does not meet the required standards they will be required to restart the assessment process. An extra fee will be payable of between £125 and £575. This fee will be dependant on the scope of the work involved, for example, whether a repeat


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site visit is required. CII will communicate this fee to the applicant in advance of the review work.

Appeals Any applicant whose Certification application has been declined, may present an appeal to the Impartiality Committee. The Impartiality Committee is the independent committee responsible for ensuring the impartiality of the Certification Services operation and are authorised to resolve any Certification appeals on behalf of the CII. All members are independent of the CII and will review your case on an impartial basis. Should you wish to appeal a Certification decision you should refer to Appendix one for further details on the appeals process.

Complaints Should you have any complaints regarding CII Certification please contact the CII Customer Services to register your complaint at: Customer Complaints 42 – 48 High Road South Woodford London E18 2JP Tel: 020 8989 8464 email: [email protected] We endeavour to acknowledge all complaints within two working days and to respond in full within five working days. If this is not possible we endeavour to keep customers informed of the progress of their enquiry on a regular basis.

mailto:[email protected]


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Appendix One – Appeals

Grounds for an appeal

There are two main grounds for appeal: 1. Extenuating circumstances that were not revealed for valid reasons prior to receipt of the Certification decision 2. Evidence to support that there has been a misinterpretation of the information provided to CII

Circumstances not accepted as grounds for an appeal

a) Claims of being unaware of, or not understanding the Certification

standards and requirements b) An appeal against a decision made by the CII Disciplinary Committee.

Full details of the CII’s disciplinary procedures are contained in the Bye-laws and Board Regulations.

Appeal fee

An appeal fee of £69 is payable on submission of an appeal; this fee is refundable in the event that the Impartiality Committee finds in favour of the appellanta.

Should the Impartiality Committee request that a stage of the Certification review process is repeated in light of the evidence submitted by the appellant the CII reserves the right to pass on the administration fee to the appellant e.g. should a further observation or face to face assessment be required due to extenuating circumstances which were not previously disclosed, the CII reserves the right to charge the appellant for this stage of the review; full fee details will be available to appellants.

Appeals Procedure A written appeal case must be submitted to the Director/Manager of Certification Services no later than thirty days from the Certification decision notification. All applications will be acknowledged within five days of receipt.


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In very exceptional circumstances, the time limit may be extended by the Chair of the Impartiality Committee. The appeal case and appellant file will be submitted to the Chair of the Impartiality Committee who will review the relevant documentary information. If it is decided there is a case to hear, it will be referred to the full Impartiality Committee for review and the appellanta will be advised of the date of this review. If it is considered that there is no prima facie caseb, the appellant will be informed within three weeks of the date of submission. The Impartiality Committee

If it is agreed that there is a prima facie case, the Impartiality Committee will review the evidence.

The review

The Impartiality Committee will consider the appeal in the light of written evidence presented; this may be via email/web/telephone or in person. It should be noted that the Appeal Procedure is an internal administrative procedure for reviewing candidate Certification decisions and it is not a formal legal procedure.

Appellants will be expected to pay their own costs incurred in preparing their appeal e.g. doctors reports etc. Appeal review options

The Impartiality Committee may determine that a specific stage of the Certification review process should be repeated to enable the applicant to be fairly assessed in light of the evidence they have submitted to support their appeal. Where only a partial reassessment against the standards is judged to be necessary an administration fee may be payable to cover the costs associated with this review. Where an appeal is declined the appellant must return to stage one of the Certification process and a full Certification fee is payable. Where an appeal is upheld the appeal fee is returned in full.


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The Outcome

The appellant will be informed of the outcome of the review by the Chair of the Impartiality Committee (or a nominated representative) within ten working days of the decision. Where the appeal is rejected, the Chair of the impartiality Committee will inform the candidate of the reasons for the decision. This will be the end of the appeal process regardless of whether there are further circumstances cited subsequently by the appellant.

All details will be treated in a confidential manner, disclosed only to those individuals involved in the appeal process or cited by you as someone who can substantiate your claims. We will seek your permission should we need to disclose details to any other individual or party as part of the consideration of your appeal.

Notes

1. Quality assurance arrangements are in place to monitor the performance of assessors to ensure accuracy, consistency and independence. Assessment criteria, including mark schemes where relevant, are provided to ensure valid and consistent assessment and exemplary work is provided.

2. The CII employs and trains individuals who have appropriate expertise

to undertake monitoring and examining work to ensure they have a common understanding of the standards. These individuals follow the procedures laid down by the regulatory authorities and adhere to a code of conduct.

3. The Disciplinary Committee has its own appeal procedure. Please

refer to the Board Regulations.

Glossary of terms a. Appellant: the party appealing a decision. b. Prima-facie case: a case which presents evidence that at first sight appears to warrant further consideration. Any candidate whose Certification application has been declined may present an appeal to the CII.


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The first stage of the process is for the applicant to submit a document outlining their appeal to the CII.

The appeal will be reviewed by an independent committee and the appeal decision will be reported to the applicant within 5 working days of the committee meeting.

iso22222 certification – guide for applicants · bs iso22222 certification guide for candidates...

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