Think about the last time you worked on a financial plan for a family with a child or adult with special educational needs or a disability. How confident were you that the plan truly reflected what that family needs, not just now, but for the long term?
Families that include someone with special educational needs or a disability (SEND) face a distinctive set of financial challenges that conventional planning approaches often aren’t equipped to handle. The numbers are significant: around 638,700 (January 2025) children in England alone have an Education, Health and Care Plan. Behind each of those is a family navigating a lifetime of complex decisions about benefits, trusts, housing, care funding, and more. Get the planning wrong and the consequences can be serious.
As paraplanners, we’re in a position to make a real difference but only if we understand what good planning for these families actually looks like.
A chance to better understand special needs planning in one lunch hour
Join us online at 1.00 pm on Wednesday 6 May as we explore what paraplanners need to know to support families with SEND needs.
Peter Spence from Fintuity hosts this conversation with Ali Fanshawe and Rhiannon Gogh, co-founders of SENDA; specialists who work with financial, legal and charity advisers to deliver safer, smarter planning for SEND families.
Together, they’ll explore what special needs planning really involves, where traditional advice tends to fall short, and what paraplanners can do to fill that gap.
During this lunch-hour Assembly we expect to:
- understand how many families are affected and what the financial planning picture looks like on a personal level
- explore the real consequences of getting financial planning wrong for families with SEND needs
- identify the key problems that arise in a financial planning context and why standard approaches can miss the mark
- consider what good planning looks like
- Understand the support available to equip paraplanners with the knowledge needed to support families confidently
What can you expect to take away?
You’ll leave with a clearer understanding of where special needs planning is different. You’ll get a better understanding of what to consider when planning for SEND needs and, and where to go for training and support if you want to develop your knowledge further.
This is planning that can make a genuine difference to families who need it most — and a chance to make sure you’re equipped to deliver it.
Ready to find out more? Register now.
When a client is moving into retirement and suddenly becomes far more aware of every market dip, smoothed funds can feel like an obvious solution. But how well do you really understand what’s happening under the bonnet?
More providers are launching smoothed funds, which means they’re cropping up more often in research and recommendations. Yet the mechanics and the meaningful differences between the various types aren’t always well understood. If you’ve ever found yourself focusing more on the smoothing overlay than the underlying fund, this session is for you.
Almost everything you need to know about smoothed funds in one hour
On Wednesday 8 April 2026, first-time Assembly host Jawaad Tanwir, founder of outsourced paraplanning practice ParaplanX, was joined by Ed Green from M&G for a practical, product-agnostic look at how smoothed funds actually work.
Ed started where it makes most sense to start: with the client. Why do smoothed funds exist at all? What role does psychology play in the transition into retirement, and when does reducing short-term volatility genuinely serve a client’s interests? From there, the conversation got into the detail paraplanners need.
During this Assembly, we covered:
- the three main types of smoothed fund, conventional with-profits, future expectation of returns (such as the EGR model), and backward-facing averaging, and what distinguishes them
- why smoothed funds tend to carry higher costs than conventional multi-asset funds, and what those costs are buying
- scale, structure and smoothing as a framework for evaluation
- private market exposure and how it contributes to lower-volatility returns
- what to actually look at when you’re researching these funds (hint: start with the underlying multi-asset fund, not the smoothing overlay)
What you will take away
By watching or listening to this Assembly, you’ll have a clearer understanding of smoothed funds. You’ll be able to cut through the product noise and research them with more confidence. Whether you’re encountering smoothed funds for the first time or want to sharpen your existing knowledge, this is a practical session designed to give you exactly what you need to do your job better.
Are you an outsourced paraplanner?
Whether you’re the only employee of your paraplanning practice, or you lead a paraplanning powerhouse with employees and a hefty bank of clients, outsourced paraplanners share lots of things in common.
You just do.
But here’s the thing: despite the growing number of outsourced paraplanners in the UK these days, opportunities to get together to talk only about things that matter in the outsourced world, are surprisingly few and far between.
Switch off. Show up. Join in.
So, if you’re an outsourced paraplanner, here’s our invitation: at 1pm on Thursday 30 April 2026, set your notifications to ‘do not disturb’, click on the Zoom link in your event invitation and gather with other outsourced paraplanners across the UK for an hour of conversation, ideas and practical insights.
There’s nothing to prepare. Just come along ready to share your answer to one question:
‘What’s on your mind today?’
Spaces are limited. To save a spot hit ‘Book Event’ and look out for the calendar invitation in your inbox.
The tax landscape has shifted significantly over the past couple of years. Allowance reductions, rising dividend tax rates and the proposed extension of IHT to unused pensions means there’s plenty for paraplanners to get to grips with — and plenty of opportunity to add real value for clients.
This Assembly is designed to cut through the complexity and give you a clearer picture of how different tax wrappers work in practice, so you can make more confident decisions about which solution is right for which client.
We’ve invited Elaine Cruickshank, tax and trusts manager at Aegon, to join host Richard Allum for a practical, no-nonsense look at onshore bonds, offshore bonds, GIAs and trust solutions — with an agnostic perspective that keeps the focus firmly on what’s best for the client in front of you.
What we’ll be exploring
We’ll look at how recent tax changes are prompting advisers and paraplanners to revisit wrapper choice, and walk through the kind of comparative thinking that helps you work out when a bond might be preferable to a GIA — or when onshore makes more sense than offshore.
We’ll also take a look at how onshore bonds are actually taxed (including a common misconception that’s worth clearing up), which wrapper tends to suit which client circumstances, and how trust solutions fit into the picture — particularly in the context of the proposed IHT changes to pensions.
What can you expect to take away?
You’ll leave with a clearer understanding of the tax treatment of different wrappers, a more confident sense of when each option is likely to work best, and some practical frameworks for thinking about trust planning solutions. We’ll share the comparative calculations in the slides afterwards, so you can refer back to them whenever you need to.
Whether you’re looking to sharpen your technical knowledge or just want to feel more confident having these conversations, join us online at 1.00 pm on Tuesday 22 April.
Are you an outsourced paraplanner?
Whether you’re the only employee of your paraplanning practice, or you lead a paraplanning powerhouse with employees and a hefty bank of clients, outsourced paraplanners share lots of things in common.
You just do.
But here’s the thing: despite the growing number of outsourced paraplanners in the UK these days, opportunities to get together to talk only about things that matter in the outsourced world, are surprisingly few and far between.
Switch off. Show up. Join in.
So, if you’re an outsourced paraplanner, here’s our invitation: at 1pm on Thursday 26 February 2026, set your notifications to ‘do not disturb’, click on the Zoom link in your event invitation and gather with other outsourced paraplanners across the UK for an hour of conversation, ideas and practical insights.
There’s nothing to prepare. Just come along ready to share your answer to one question:
‘What’s on your mind today?’
Spaces are limited. To save a spot hit ‘Book Event’ and look out for the calendar invitation in your inbox.
Pensions will become subject to inheritance tax (IHT) from April 2027, but how much of a role does protection play in your approach to building IHT strategies for your clients? And how confident are you about the protection options that are available to you?
But with IHT receipts expected to almost double, and sweeping changes to business and agricultural property relief already landing from April 2026, paraplanners can expect more and more clients to want to explore all the options.
So at this Assembly, host Richard Allum was joined by Alan Jenkinson, protection specialist at Scottish Widows, to walk through the essentials. During their lunch-hour discussion, Richard and Alan unpack IHT and how it works, run through the key exemptions and reliefs, and explore how protection fits into an IHT planning conversation alongside gifting strategies, trust structures and the normal expenditure out of income rules.
There’s also a really useful section on the underwriting process: what to do when a client has health risk factors, when concurrent applications make sense, and why a declined application isn’t necessarily the end of the road.
If you’re looking for a solid grounding in this area — or a practical refresher before your next client review — this one’s well worth an hour of your time.
Back in November, guests from CISI, PFS and LIBF joined us to talk about what the professional bodies can do for paraplanners. (If you missed part 1, you’ll find it here.)
But there was too much to cover in just one session. So we invited Nicola Mellor (PFS), Chris Morris (CISI) and Sally Plant (LIBF) back to pick up where they left off.
This time around, they answered questions including which body to join and why, exams and qualifications, the role of CPD and how paraplanners can influence the work of professional bodies.
What you’ll hear
We structured this Assembly around six key areas that came up most often from paraplanners:
- Starting out in the profession: which body to join, what membership actually costs, what support exists for career changers, and what you should prioritise in your first year
- Qualifications and exams: how exams are structured, why they feel designed to catch you out rather than test real knowledge, and whether there’s appetite for more specialist paraplanning qualifications
- Recognition of paraplanning: whether we’ll ever see chartered paraplanner titles, why paraplanning isn’t recognised as distinct from financial planning, and what’s stopping this from happening
- CPD that actually works: why you should need to sit in an exam room if you already manage your own learning, why all the CPD events cluster together, and why you hear budget updates from everyone except the body you actually belong to
- Having your say: how to get involved, whether there’s paraplanner representation on boards, what mechanisms exist to propose changes, and what volunteer opportunities are available
- The future of paraplanning: where the profession is heading and how the bodies are preparing to support paraplanners through changes in technology, regulation and client expectations
What can you expect to take away
You’ll leave with a much clearer understanding of what each professional body offers, which matters when you’re making decisions about where to invest your time and money.
More importantly, you’ll know exactly how these organisations work, how you can influence them, and whether they’re actually listening to what paraplanners need — not just what they think you need.
This is also a chance to hear the professional bodies respond directly to some uncomfortable questions about cost, accessibility, and whether they truly recognise paraplanning as a profession in its own right.
Budget measures are often the subject of media speculation. But the level of attention in the run-up to the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Budget statement on 26 November 2025 was unprecedented.
So did the reality match the hype?
For our final Assembly of 2025, we invited Les Cameron from M&G Wealth to join us and share his latest thoughts on what paraplanners need to know following Rachel Reeves’s statement.
Les covers a bunch of different topics that include:
- Inheritance tax changes and business relief updates
- Capital gains tax rates and allowances
- ISA allowances
- Pensions, IHT liability and the role of personal representatives
- Salary sacrifice
- Tax rates, bands and allowances
- Beneficial ordering
- The effect of fiscal drag (or ‘stealth taxes’)
Plus more besides. So if you want to catch up with what’s been announced, what’s changing, or what’s staying the same, this is the Assembly for you.
Assemblies featuring the M&G technical team in 2025
This is the fifth Assembly of the year featuring experts from M&G Wealth’s technical team. Here are the other four from 2025:
February 2025 – Pensions, death and taxes (with Les)
April 2025 – A guide to investment bond essentials for paraplanners (with Barrie Dawson)
August 2025 – Tax wrappers: which, why and when? (with Neil Macleod)
September 2025 – The pension IHT bombshell has landed – now what? (with Les)
Professional bodies are an influential feature of any paraplanners careers, whether we’re members of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI), Personal Finance Society (PFS), or pay for LIBF courses.
So we fork out for fees, collect our CPD, and maybe sit an exam or two. But are we really getting the most from these organisations?
What do they offer that can support us in our careers? And is one more suited to me than another? Or are all three much the same?
That’s what this Assembly was all about. We invited Chris Morris from CISI, Nicola Mellor from the PFS, and Sally Plant from LIBF to field questions posed in advance and in the chat by paraplanners.
Note: Because technology didn’t work the way it’s supposed to, Sally wasn’t able to join us on screen BUT she did join us in the Chat while her colleague (and director of financial services at the LIBF) John Somerville, was able to join Richard, Chris and Nicola on screen (from about 15 minutes in).
It’s a great conversation from start to finish and comprehensively explored:
- What specific support does each body offer paraplanners – and what makes the difference between them
- How can paraplanners influence the work of the organisations and how to get involved
- Whether there’s a place for paraplanner-specific qualifications
- How does membership work, what are the costs involved, and why do you need to maintain a membership (for PFS and CISI)
Plus plenty more.
What can you expect to take away?
Once you’ve listened or watched, you’ll have a much clearer understanding of what each professional body offers, which could be the right one for you, and how you can get more value from your membership.
Look out for another installment in 2026
There was so much to talk about that we didn’t manage to address even 50% of the questions that paraplanners had submitted so we’ll be setting up a second session featuring Chris, Nicola and – hopefully – Sally early in 2026.
If you want to know what’s on the minds of other paraplanners, then this is definitely the Assembly for you.
That’s because Scottish Widows’s Craig Spittal joined host, Richard Allum, and guests Alison Neale of Principle Paraplanning, to exclusively reveal key findings of this year’s Scottish Widows‘ Paraplanner Survey ahead of it’s formal publication in November 2025.
Since recording the results have been published and you’ll find them here.
Original insights on the big issues
During this recording of a lunch-hour online Assembly, Craig shares findings from a sample of 200 paraplanners who completed the third annual survey of paraplanners. Topics covered include:
- Job satisfaction – Do your paraplanning peers feel supported in their current role? And how eager are they to gain greater recognition and influence, and clarity over possible career paths? How high is confidence in the profession overall – and is it the same for everyone at every age?
- Platforms and due diligence – How many platforms do paraplanners use day to day? And what are the issues that grind paraplanners gears? Tune in to hear Alison, Craig and Richard’s thoughts.
- AI and tech – Is the desire for automation matched by tech adoption in paraplanners firms? Or are things moving far slower than the hype suggests? What – if anything – is holding paraplanners back from AI adoption? And how convinced is the community by the promise of AI? Does the carrot of greater efficiency dilute concerns about accuracy and data security?
What can you expect to take away?
Listen and you’ll hear practical insights, honest reflections, and a clear idea of where paraplanners like you think our profession is heading.
So tuck in to a helping of hot-of-the-press original research and take this chance to reflect on the attitudes and trends that are influencing paraplanning today.