The FCA's Targeted Support Regime Just Went Live. Here's What It Means for Your Firm.

On 6 April 2026, the FCA flipped the switch on targeted support. It's the biggest change to the advice and guidance boundary in over a decade, and it affects every financial advice firm in the UK.

But if you're running an advice firm with a full caseload, you'd be forgiven for not having had time to properly digest what it means. Most of the coverage so far has been written by law firms for compliance teams at large institutions. Not much of it speaks to the reality of running a busy advice practice.

So here's a practical breakdown. No jargon. No legal hedging. Just what you need to know.

What is targeted support?

Targeted support is a new regulated activity that sits between generic guidance and full personalised advice. It allows authorised firms to make specific suggestions to groups of consumers who share common characteristics, without triggering the full regulatory burden of individual advice.

Until now, firms could either give generic guidance ("here are some things to think about") or full regulated advice ("based on your circumstances, I recommend X"). There wasn't much in between.

Targeted support creates that middle ground. A firm could identify a group of customers aged 55 to 65 with unmanaged pension pots and suggest they consider a particular drawdown approach. Not a personal recommendation. But something more useful than a leaflet.

The FCA estimates around 23 million consumers are currently underserved by the existing advice and guidance framework. Only about 9% of people in the UK get regulated financial advice. Targeted support is designed to start closing that gap.

Who can offer it?

Firms need a specific FCA permission to provide targeted support. The authorisation gateway opened on 2 March 2026, and the regime went live on 6 April. If you haven't applied yet, you can still do so through Connect.

One important detail: appointed representatives can't offer targeted support. At least not yet. The government has said it will revisit this once broader reforms to the AR regime are in place. So for now, this is a directly authorised firm activity only.

For directly authorised firms, that's actually a competitive advantage worth paying attention to.

What does this mean for advice firms?

If you're an IFA firm, your first reaction might be "this doesn't apply to us, we give full advice." And you're partly right. Most of the early adopters will likely be banks, pension providers, and larger wealth managers building scaled digital propositions.

But there are a few reasons this still matters to you.

The advice gap conversation is shifting. The FCA has been clear that it wants more consumers to get better support. Targeted support is one piece of that. Simplified advice reforms are coming next. The direction of travel is towards making it easier for firms to help more people in more ways. If your firm is growing, understanding how these new service types fit alongside traditional advice will matter.

Client expectations will change. As larger firms start offering targeted support through apps and online tools, consumers will begin to expect a certain standard of digital interaction with their financial providers. That pressure filters across the market. Clients will increasingly expect portals, digital communications, and faster responses. Not because they want less from their adviser, but because their bank just set a new baseline.

Record-keeping gets more important, not less. The FCA has made clear that targeted support sits under the Consumer Duty. Firms offering it need to demonstrate that their suggestions are suitable for the consumer segments they're targeting. That means evidence. Documentation. Audit trails. For firms already giving full advice, the principle is the same one you already live with: if you can't show what you did and why, you're exposed. Good systems with proper audit trails aren't optional for any of this.

The practical question: what should you actually do?

If you're not planning to offer targeted support yourself, you don't need to apply for the permission. But you should still be aware of a few things.

First, watch how your platform providers and product manufacturers respond. Some will start building targeted support into their consumer-facing tools, which could change how your clients interact with products you've recommended.

Second, keep an eye on the simplified advice consultation. The FCA published CP26/10 on 25 March, consulting on consolidating and simplifying the pensions and investment advice rules. Responses are due by 22 May, with final rules expected in Q4 2026. Targeted support is the first step. More will follow.

Third, and this one is practical: make sure your own house is in order. The firms that will do well as the regulatory environment evolves are the ones with clean data, good processes, and systems that make compliance a byproduct of doing the work properly. Not the ones scrambling to pull records together after the fact.

Where this is heading

The FCA has been saying for years that too many people aren't getting the help they need with their money. Targeted support is the first real structural attempt to fix that. Whether it works will depend on whether firms actually use it well, and whether consumers trust it.

For advice firms, the bigger picture is clear: the market is moving towards more accessible, more digital, more evidenced financial support. Full advice isn't going anywhere. But the ecosystem around it is changing, and firms that stay close to those changes will be better positioned.

If you want to talk about how your firm can make sure its systems are ready for what's coming, we're always happy to have a conversation.