The same level of diligence applies to charges. "The FCA has always said it is not a price regulator, but they do expect the client to receive fair value. The difficulty here is that the majority of clients do not have the knowledge and expertise to assess this for themselves," says Tait.
She says advisers should create a strategy that clearly identifies what services are necessary, or at least desirable, for particular client groups, so they can ensure they are only paying for the ones that will benefit them.
The key thing, she adds, is to note "that the duty is not restricted to products and services delivered by providers, it very much pertains to advisers’ own services, such as the frequency of reviews or active investment management."
This means advisers will need to demonstrate that the client has a need for ongoing advice and the benefit the client will receive from that advice, says Kenny.
"Defining and monitoring good customer outcomes is another key tenet of the consumer duty. We expect that relevant monitoring frameworks will need to be reviewed and updated to monitor ongoing customer outcomes."
Mann agrees price and value is one of the four outcomes of the consumer duty.
"Fair value is demonstrated when the amount paid for the product or service is reasonably relative to the overall benefit of a product," she says. "The FCA have confirmed that if a product meets all of the other elements of the consumer duty, then it is likely to offer fair value to consumers."
Having a framework in place
Having a framework in place can help advisers not only give retirement income advice efficiently but also compliantly.
Many experts FTAdviser has spoken to agree providers have not done enough to innovate around retirement products since the pension freedoms to give advisers the ability to construct portfolios flexibly.
“As an industry we have failed to innovate and failed to deliver choice, which has meant that advisers do not have the range of robust and flexible retirement plans for clients that they need,” said Kenny in a recent Q&A.
She said it was imperative that advisers and providers worked together to come up with product strategies that work for them and deliver good client outcomes.
Tim Morris, independent financial adviser at Russell & Co, agrees. "[Innovation] is where the consumer duty should shake things up. If not, that will be a major missed opportunity.
"Most are much too slow when it comes to adopting new technology. This in turn holds back productivity. This can be as basic as platforms functioning well. And the fact it took a global pandemic to move away from paper forms to electronic signatures – only the best part of a decade late."
