Does employment legislation prevent the FSA from making changes to the qualification requirements of investment advisers?
A – First, firms may choose to continue the employment of advisers who do not meet the qualification requirement by the deadline. As long as he/she is employed in a different capacity in which he/she ceases to give investment advice, there is no reason why, as far as the FSA is concerned, he/she should not remain as an employee of the firm. In the new role the individual may of course go on to complete the required qualification in due course. Where a firm decides to end the contract of an individual for failing to meet the new qualifications standard, this is unlikely to constitute a redundancy, as the firm will very likely still require the role (of adviser) to be performed. The reason why the employment has been ended is because the individual has failed to meet a competency requirement which the adviser must meet to perform that role. The content of the employment contract will be relevant here, in that it may require the individual to comply with any applicable FSA and other regul
