Welcome to The Self-Assembly Paraplanning Show, a monthly unscripted conversation where we invite a small group of paraplanners to compare notes on what’s actually happening in their world.

Just so you know: guests appear in a personal capacity and not on behalf of the business that employs them.

This month’s host, Julie South, is founder of outsourced paraplanning firm, Bee Paraplanning. Julie is joined by guests Lucy Halliday, a senior paraplanner at Argonaut Paraplanning, and Chris Wormwell, an in-house paraplanner at Wesleyan Financial Services.

Among the topics that Julie, Lucy and Chris cover this month are:

• the UK Government’s Autumn Budget – set for Wednesday 28 October – and what’s rumoured to be in it?
• who’s been hearing about clients asking to take their tax-free cash?
• the potential CGT changes that are on their radars plus chat about IHT and agricultural property relief
• why clients should plan for both sides of care – paying for their own, and understanding what caring for someone else could mean for their finances
• why cash flows should factor in the risk of redundancy and illness (and caring responsibilities)
• what the UK Government’s consultation on the rights of cohabiting couples in England and Wales could mean for things like IHT and wills

It’s an episode that’s big on the potential of cash flows and annual reviews as a way to prompt conversations with clients about the stuff that doesn’t get mentioned as much as it could.

Oh and Lucy and Chris offer their gaming and streaming recommendations for October, plus plugs for events they’re planning to attend, too.

AI in this episode

We used Adobe Podcast’s Enhance tool to clean up audio levels and quality.

We used Canva’s background remover for the head-and-shoulder shots of Julie, Chris and Lucy in the cover image of this episode.

Every year, Scottish Widows survey UK paraplanners to find out how they’re feeling about their work and the changes shaping the profession. And every year, Scottish Widows give the Paraplanners’ Assembly an advance look at what they’ve discovered, before the results are published. 

IHT, AI and the future of paraplanning

Join us online on Thursday 22 October, at 1.00pm when host Richard Allum will be joined by Harry Keating-Coyne, Intermediary Distribution Manager at Scottish Widows, to discuss the emerging themes from this year’s survey. 

IHT: the big story

It’s no surprise that the April 2027 changes bringing pensions into the IHT net are a big shift for advice firms and their clients. But the survey shows it might be a bigger shift than some first currently realise. The research looks closely at how prepared the profession is, including: 

• how ready paraplanners feel for the changes
• what firms have already changed or are in the process of changing
• how client conversations and planning strategies are changing
• potential product implications and unintended consequences
• whether they could spark broader intergenerational and whole family planning

AI and the future of advice

Richard and Harry look at what paraplanners and advisers think about AI, Targeted Support and simplified advice. For AI, this covers how far firms are adopting it, how confident people feel, and whether it’s seen as an opportunity or a threat.

Richard and Harry talk about the future shape of advice businesses and the role of paraplanners within them. This includes the impact of regulation on workload (a returning theme from previous surveys), recruitment and changing client expectations. 

What can you expect?

This is a chance from you to hear what peers are thinking before the full report lands. You’ll get a sense of how your own firm’s approach to IHT and AI compares with others. 

The Assembly lasts one hour and CPD is available. 

Save your spot now.

Most financial plans treat cancer as a rare event, or as though a diagnosis always means the end of the road.

New joint research from Scottish Widows and Macmillan, tells a different story. By 2045, cancer prevalence in the UK is forecast to rise by 58%, taking the number of people living with or beyond cancer to 5.4 million and survival rates have doubled in the last forty years. So, cancer is no longer the death sentence it once was, and that changes what financial planning needs to do.

That’s why we invited Scottish Widows national account manager, Jonathan Hall, to join host Richard Allum and talk through what the research means and help paraplanners understand what it might mean to their day-to-day paraplanning.

John unpacks what’s driving the increase (an ageing population, earlier diagnosis through screening, and improving survival rates), and what it means for clients at every stage: building cash flow models that stress test a plan against a cancer diagnosis, why premiums for the same cover roughly triple by your thirties and more than double again by your forties, and how needs shift from a client in their twenties protecting a lifestyle to one in retirement assuming their savings will simply see them through.

Tune in now to find out how to bring this conversation to life for your clients.

What can you expect?

• the numbers behind a forecast 58% rise in UK cancer prevalence by 2045, and what’s driving it
• how to use cash flow modelling to bring a “what if” conversation to life for clients
• how protection needs and objections shift across generations, from Gen Z to those approaching retirement
• why “I’ve already got cover” and “I’ve got savings to fall back on” are worth gently challenging
• how protection can work as an intergenerational planning tool, including for clients’ adult children

Request a CPD certificate and download Jonathan’s slides

Once you have watched or listened to this episode, you can request a certificate of attendance for 35 minutes’ CPD. To do that, follow the link below where you will also be able to download Jonathan’s slides.

The Autumn Budget lands on 28 October. A week later, we’re sitting down with someone who’ll have properly thought it through.

Les Cameron from M&G joins Richard Allum to unpack what the Budget actually means, for clients, for financial plans, and for paraplanners.

Les needs no introduction in paraplanning circles, and this is your chance to hear his take before you’re the one fielding the questions.

• What the Budget changes (and what it doesn’t)
• The practical implications for planning
• What paraplanners should be thinking about next

There will be CPD available.

Have you ever stopped to think about the assumptions baked into a fact find? A tickbox for ‘marital status’. A question about ‘your wife’ or ‘your husband’. A box that asks for ‘gender’ with only two options to choose from. A form that only makes room for children who are biologically yours.

These assumptions, and experiences of LGBTQ+ clients raise some important considerations for financial planning and, as paraplanners, we are well placed to make sure the file and the advice reflects who the client actually is, not who they’re assumed to be.

Join us at 1.00pm on Wednesday 7 October as we explore what paraplanners may be unintentionally overlooking when working with LGBTQ+ clients, and how to build a process where those clients feel understood without ever having to justify who they are.

Jawaad Tanwir, of ParaplanX is hosting this conversation and is joined by Esther Clemmey of Integrity365 and Jamie Lowe of True Self Wealth.

Together, they’ll look at where assumptions most often creep into the advice process – about marriage, gender, children, beneficiaries and ‘chosen family’ – and the practical planning issues that follow including: Wills and intestacy for unmarried couples, pension nominations, protection underwriting, international planning, and later-life concerns about who gets recognised as next of kin.

During this Assembly we expect to

• understand what paraplanners may unintentionally overlook when working with LGBTQ+ clients
• explore the practical planning issues that can arise  
• consider how to build a process in which LGBTQ+ clients feel understood, without making assumptions

Sound like something you’d like to know more about? Save your spot now.

A Kerr-Fuffell family member has snuffed it. But was it foul play? Join paraplanner sleuths to sift for clues and crack the case.

You’re invited to a Big Day Out with a difference.

Because we’d love you to gather with paraplanners from across the UK at West Horsley Place in Surrey from 9am on Tuesday 3 November 2026.

Over the course of the day, you’ll work out which member of the Kerr-Fuffell family stood to gain most from the untimely demise of their (perhaps not so) loved one.

Our writers room of supremely well-qualified paraplanners is busily concocting a series of – fingers crossed – interconnected case studies.

Inheritance tax, pensions, estate planning, wills, lasting powers of attorney, divorce, protection – you name it – we’ll cram it in.

In other words, you’re guaranteed an agenda that will be bursting at the seams with seven hours’ worth of CPD. That’s knowledge and insights that you can apply to client cases right away.

How will the day work?

At 10am, we’ll gather in the Great Hall for your briefing on the untimely demise of Lady Fifi.

Then you’ll join one of four groups, each led by a duo of paraplanning detectives.

In a series of sessions, your group will meet with expert witnesses drawn from our supporters – that’s Aegon, Howden, M&G, Quilter, Scottish Widows, Transact and Wealthtime – to sift evidence contained in case studies.

Whoa there! Why does West Horsley Place look familiar?

If you’re a fan of the hit BBC TV comedy ‘Ghosts’, it will.

Because West Horsley Place is Button House!

And do you know what? It looks EXACTLY like it does on the telly – outside and in.

So not only will you get to take part in the Big Day Out, you can sneak a few selfies in the Great Hall, the library, that long red room upstairs, the grand staircase, the garden, even the corridor that leads to the plague pit.

What’s more, we’ll take the traditional ‘school photo’ in front of house.

How exciting is that?!

And in a happy coincidence, we’ll be gathering for our Big Day Out just one week after ‘Ghosts: The Possession of Button House’ is released in UK cinemas.

Will you feed me?

This is a Paraplanners’ Assembly event, so we won’t scrimp on the catering.

Your ticket includes breakfast baps (or butties) on arrival, a delicious hot buffet lunch, plus a sweet treat with your tea in the afternoon.

There will be vegetarian and vegan options. And if there are ingredients you need to be careful of, let us know when you book, and we’ll take care of that.

Surrey? But that’s far far away!

It’s a fair cop. For 12 years we’ve hosted events in the Midlands-ish, so it was reasonably easy for people to get to.

But getting exclusive use of a country estate for a whole day’s Whodunnit that’s just the right size for a Big Day Out – well, that’s quite tricky.

Being big ‘Ghosts’ fans, when we discovered we could have Button House to ourselves for the day, we couldn’t resist.

We know Surrey is a stretch. And if that means you don’t feel able to join us this year, we’ll make it up to you next year. Promise.

Getting there

By car: West Horsley Place is off the A246 between Guildford and Leatherhead. It’s ten minutes’ drive from the A3/M25 intersection. Leave the A3 at junction 10. You can park for free in the visitor car park.

By train: Horsley station is one mile away, with frequent trains from London Waterloo (49-minute journey), Vauxhall, Clapham Junction and Guildford (14-minute journey). Woking station is 8 miles away, with frequent, fast trains to and from London. It takes about 25 minutes to walk from the station to West Horsley Place. It is a lovely walk through the estate, but you will need footwear suitable for wet, muddy or uneven ground. Follow the bridleway and you’ll arrive in the car park and welcome area.

By bus: The 479 Guildford-Bookham-Leatherhead-Epsom service operates roughly hourly. The nearest stop is East Horsley, Duke of Wellington. It takes approximately 7 minutes to walk from the stop. The entrance to West Horsley Place is on the right before you reach St Mary’s Church. Walk down the drive to reach the Welcome Area next to the Barn.

Here’s the bus timetable: Service 479

Where to stay

West Horsley Place has plenty of places to stay. There are two large hotels within three mins of the Big Day Out venue:

De Vere Horsley Estate
Thatchers Hotel

Within 15 minutes’ drive:

Travelodge, Leatherhead

What to wear

West Horsley Place is heated throughout. But it’s a rambling old country pile with flagstone floors on the ground floor, so we’re suggesting you dress for cosy toes and tops (and – what’s to lose – cosy everywhere really too).

Is West Horsley Place accessible?

The ground floor of the Manor House is wheelchair accessible, with a platform lift to the first floor. If you’d find the short walk – or gravel path – from the car park difficult, let us know when you book and we’ll contact the team at West Horsley to make sure you’re looked after when you arrive.

Book your spot now

A Big Day Out Whodunnit costs £50. But there are limited places, so don’t hang about. To book your spot now, follow this link:

Group bookings

We’ve limited group bookings to five places. If you want to book more than that, email us and we’ll add you to the waiting list.

Temporary pension income guarantees are nothing new to retirement income planning. But how much do you actually know about how they work?

During this Online Assembly, Richard Allum and M&G’s Mark Devlin take a practical look at temporary pension income guarantees, and what they mean for cases that you may work on. 

During this Assembly, Mark explained:

• what temporary guarantees are and how they work
• the options available to clients
• what happens to death benefits
• why you might consider using them in a client’s retirement plan

Plus they added a couple of real-world case studies into the mix to bring it all to life.

What can you expect to take away?

A clearer, more practical understanding of temporary pension income guarantees, and a sense of when and why they might be worth putting in front of a client.

Ready to top up your knowledge? Catch up now.

The near-Dickensian language of a Will doesn’t half make the clarity of its contents harder to grasp, doesn’t it?

And then there’s LPAs, which come with limits that catch you out. Things like what an attorney can and can’t gift, whether they can set up a trust, what happens if the attorney themselves loses capacity.

So if you’re prone to befuddlement – and, let’s be honest, who isn’t? – then tune into this conversation with Shaun Moore, Technical Specialist at Quilter. 

Because Shaun joined us for a lunch-hour conversation that’s all about deciphering what wills and LPAs actually say.

But this isn’t about which form to fill in or which portal to log into. It’s a planning conversation about why these documents matter, what they can and can’t do, and what paraplanners need to look out for.

And with pensions becoming vulnerable to IHT, and plenty of plans now out of date, this is the ideal time to revisit both documents.

So during this Assembly we covered

• why pensions coming into the estate means old wills need a second look
• Residence Nil Rate Band (RNRB) pitfalls and old discretionary trusts left over from before the transferable nil rate band
• deeds of variation, and what your options are when a will hasn’t been drafted well
• investment powers in will trusts, including bonds for life tenants, STEP provisions and when the Trustee Act 2000 defaults apply
• the limits on what an attorney can do, including gifting and setting up trusts
• LPAs and discretionary fund management, and the Office of the Public Guardian’s reversed guidance on discretionary fund management (now allowed unless the document says otherwise)
• what happens when an attorney themselves loses capacity, and whether a will can be changed or revoked

What can you expect to take away?

Watch or listen and you’ll gain a clearer idea of the role of wills and LPAs so you can spot the planning opportunities.

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 29 October 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.

We’re starting this Assembly discussing fees and see where it goes from there.

Spaces are limited. To save a spot hit ‘Book Event’ and look out for the calendar invitation in your inbox.

Would you trust a fun fact you can’t find in black and white?

That’s just one of the questions rattling around in this episode – the first-ever podcast-only instalment of the Self-Assembly Paraplanning Show. It’s a regular, unscripted conversation where a small group of paraplanners compare notes on what’s actually happening in their world.

This episode’s host Sam Tonks, is joined by Julie South, who runs outsourced paraplanning business, Bee Paraplanning, and Steven McBurnie, a Senior Associate at RBC Brewin Dolphin and is currently on the pathway to becoming client-facing.

Across the hour they cover:

• when is a ‘fun fact’ actually ‘fact’? How do you know and why does it matter?
• CPD opportunities hiding in plain sight – why “research before a case” counts as CPD
• AI in paraplanning – where it genuinely helps (source-checking, drafting) and why it hasn’t replaced the trust between adviser and paraplanner
• GP records, data silos, and why medical underwriting keeps stalling protection cases, and the wider frustration of providers who won’t pick up the phone
• smart glasses, meeting recording, and where data collection starts to feel like too much
• clients turning up to meetings having already run their suitability report through ChatGPT or Copilot

The episode wraps up with events for your diary and some very unfinancial recommendations for the Summer holidays.