IFA Administrator

Eventus Recruitment are seeking a New Business IFA Administrator to join the client support team of an independent, whole of market financial planning firm in St Helens, Merseyside. This is a full-time, permanent job paying up to £29,000 depending on experience, with a 5% employer pension through salary sacrifice, 26 days' holiday plus bank holidays rising to 30 with service, a profit-share bonus (5%) and fully funded CII study support.

The job is office-based in St Helens, Merseyside, with flexible start and finish times, working Monday to Friday. The team is growing from 18 people towards around 30 over the next three years, so for an administrator who wants a technical desk and a proven route into paraplanning, this one is worth a look.

The New Business IFA Administrator runs every case from the point the adviser makes a recommendation through to the money being invested and the plan going live. It is the engine room of the advice process, and the job carries real ownership rather than a queue of tasks handed down: the pipeline is yours, and the advisers rely on you to know where every case sits and why.

The desk is a busy one, so this suits an administrator who is organised, quick to pick things up and comfortable holding many cases at once.

Key responsibilities include:

• Owning a live pipeline of cases from submission through to completion
• Chasing providers, platforms and third parties until outstanding information arrives, escalating where a case has stalled
• Preparing and submitting new business applications across pensions, investments, ISAs, bonds and protection
• Processing pension and investment transfers, including Origo and manual routes
• Checking every application pack is complete and compliant before it leaves the building
• Producing illustrations, quotations and comparison documents for the advisers
• Submitting Letters of Authority and gathering existing plan information
• Onboarding new clients, including anti-money laundering and identity verification checks
• Recording adviser charges and reconciling them against provider payments
• Keeping client and plan data accurate on the back office system throughout the case

Experience gained in financial services is essential for this New Business IFA Administrator job, and financial planning or IFA administration is the ideal background. Accuracy matters as much as pace here, because the work feeds directly into regulated advice and a mistake at submission stage costs the client weeks. Confidence dealing with providers and clients directly is what separates managing this job from running it.

You should also be able to demonstrate the following:

• Financial planning or IFA administration experience, or wider financial services experience
Ownership of a new business pipeline, or comparable case-tracking responsibility
• Organisation and the judgement to prioritise competing cases and deadlines
• A proactive approach to chasing and unblocking work rather than waiting to be asked
• Accuracy and attention to detail maintained under a full workload
• Confident written and verbal communication with clients, providers and colleagues
• Comfort across back office systems and Microsoft Office
• Interest in CII study, whether already underway or not yet started

Alongside a salary of up to £29,000 depending on experience, on a full-time, permanent basis working Monday to Friday, office-based in St Helens, Merseyside, the employer offers:

• 5% employer pension contribution through a salary sacrifice scheme
• 26 days' holiday plus bank holidays, rising to 30 with length of service
• Option to buy or sell holiday, plus an additional day off for your birthday
• Profit-share bonus of 5% of salary
• Life cover at 3x salary after one year's service
• Private medical insurance after a qualifying period
• Enhanced company sick pay once probation is passed, rising with length of service
• Fully funded CII and Diploma study support
• A clear path from administration into paraplanning and, if wanted, on into advice
• Flexible start and finish times, starting between 8 and 10 and finishing between 4 and 6
• Free on-site parking
• Regular team and social events

The employer is an independently owned financial planning firm advising whole of market, rather than a network practice or part of a consolidator, covering pensions, investments, inheritance tax, mortgages and protection across the North West. It has grown to a team of 18 almost entirely on referral, having never advertised for a client, and the founder still holds advice relationships rather than sitting above the business.

Administration sits inside a proper support function alongside paraplanning and advice, which is why the work here is technical rather than clerical, and the team is heading from 18 people to around 30 over the next three years.

The progression route is not a promise on a careers page. A recent administrator who I placed is halfway through her Level 4 Diploma, already doing paraplanning work, with a…