What is an adviser charge?
An adviser charge is the fee you agree with a financial adviser for investment or pension advice, set by the firm and paid by you rather than by a product provider as commission.
In 2025, UK advice firms reported £8.13bn of adviser-charge revenue, 81% of it from ongoing charges (FCA retail intermediary market data 2025, published July 2026).
What the term means
"Adviser charge" is the FCA's own term. Since 31 December 2012, a firm giving a personal recommendation on a retail investment product, which includes most pensions and investment funds, has had to be paid by its client under an agreed charging structure. Before then, much advice was paid for by commission from the product provider, which the client never saw as a separate bill.
The charge can take several shapes, and many firms combine them:
- an initial adviser charge for the first piece of work;
- an ongoing adviser charge for a continuing service, often a percentage of your investments each year;
- a fixed fee, an hourly rate, or a subscription or retainer.
What a firm must tell you
The rules sit in COBS 6.1A of the FCA Handbook. A firm must publish or give you its charging structure before it advises you, and must "agree with and disclose to a retail client the total adviser charge payable" (COBS 6.1A.24R). Where it can, that total should be in pounds.
The FCA's guidance says a charging structure should reflect "as closely as is practicable, the total adviser charge to be paid", and that a firm "should avoid using a wide range" (COBS 6.1A.20G). If a quote gives you only a percentage, ask for the cash figure on your own amount.
Is there a cap on adviser charges?
No. There is no legal maximum on what an adviser may charge in the UK. Firms set their own prices, and under the Consumer Duty they must be able to show that the price represents fair value for the service. The one structural restriction is on defined benefit pension transfers, where charging only if you go ahead was banned in 2020: see contingent charging.
What an adviser charge does not include
The adviser charge is only the adviser's part of the cost. A platform fee and the funds' own charges (the OCF) are paid on top. The FCA's 2020 evaluation put the average all-in cost of advised investing at about 1.9% a year. The total cost page shows how the parts add up.
Related definitions
Sources
- FCA Handbook, COBS 6.1A — Adviser charging and remuneration
- FCA, Retail intermediary market data 2025 (published 23 July 2026)
- FCA, Evaluation of the impact of the RDR and FAMR (December 2020)
General information only, not regulated financial advice or a personal recommendation. FinancialAdvisor.co.uk is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Figures are labelled with their source and date; they describe the market, not any firm, and are not quotes. Spotted an error? Report it and we will correct it.