What it is, and when you must get one

When an FCA-authorised adviser makes you a personal recommendation — buy this fund, transfer this pension, take income this way — the firm's rules (FCA handbook, COBS 9) require a written suitability report: why this recommendation, for this person, given these circumstances. You should normally have it before anything is executed. It goes by different names — suitability letter, advice report, recommendation report — but if you've been advised and haven't seen one, ask. This guide pairs with our check-an-adviser toolkit, which covers vetting the adviser before you ever reach this document.

The anatomy of a good one

  • Your objectives — what you said you wanted, in your terms, with timescales.
  • Your circumstances — income, assets, debts, dependants, health where relevant. This is the factual foundation everything rests on.
  • Risk — twice. Your attitude to risk (how much volatility you can stomach) and your capacity for loss (how much you can afford to lose without changing your life). They are different questions; good reports treat them separately.
  • The recommendation and — crucially — why it's suitable for you, not a product brochure.
  • Costs in pounds: initial and ongoing adviser fees, platform and fund charges, and their combined drag.
  • Risks and disadvantages of the recommendation, stated plainly.
  • Alternatives considered and why they were rejected — including "do nothing".
  • The ongoing service: what the annual fee buys and how often you'll be reviewed.

The ten-point reading checklist

  1. Objectives: are they recognisably yours, or boilerplate ("achieve capital growth over the medium term") that could describe anyone?
  2. Facts: is every figure about you correct? An error here can quietly invalidate the whole analysis — and it's the easiest thing to fix before signing.
  3. Risk match: does the risk level match what you actually said — and does the recommended portfolio match the stated risk level?
  4. Capacity for loss: addressed as its own question, with reference to your actual finances?
  5. Costs in pounds: can you find the total first-year cost and annual ongoing cost in £, not just percentages? Run the long-term drag through our fee impact calculator and sanity-check the numbers against the fee benchmark.
  6. Why this, specifically: is there a reason this product/platform/fund suits you, beyond generic praise?
  7. Disadvantages: does it candidly say what's worse about the recommendation, or only what's better?
  8. What you give up: on any transfer or switch — exit penalties, guarantees, protected tax-free cash, death benefits. This is where the expensive, irreversible mistakes live (see pension consolidation).
  9. Ongoing fee vs ongoing service: is the annual percentage attached to a concrete service you'd miss if it stopped?
  10. The read-aloud test: is there any sentence you couldn't explain to a friend? That sentence is your next question.

Red flags

  • Objectives in language you'd never use; circumstances copied incorrectly from the fact-find.
  • A cautious risk conversation followed by an adventurous portfolio (or vice versa).
  • Fees only ever expressed as percentages; no combined total; charges scattered across appendices.
  • No alternatives section, or "do nothing" never considered.
  • "As we discussed" doing the work that written reasons should do.
  • Pressure to sign before you've had time to read it — a legitimate recommendation survives a week's reflection.

It's also your evidence

If the advice later goes wrong, the suitability report is the first document the firm's complaints team — and the Financial Ombudsman — will read. It records what the firm knew about you and why it claimed the recommendation fitted. File every report you receive, permanently, alongside the fee disclosures. The escalation route, deadlines and what redress covers are in how to complain about a financial adviser.

Questions to ask before signing

Four that earn their keep: "What's the total cost in pounds in year one, and every year after?" · "What would you recommend if I did nothing?" · "What am I giving up by moving?" · "Which parts of this recommendation are you paid more for than the alternatives?" A good adviser answers all four comfortably — the answers may even be in the report already, which tells you it's a good one.

Common questions

Is a suitability report legally required?
For a personal recommendation to a retail client — which covers most advised investment, pension and retirement decisions — yes: FCA rules (COBS 9) require the firm to provide a written report explaining why the recommendation is suitable for you, normally before or at the point the transaction goes ahead. If you've received a recommendation and no report, ask where it is; its absence is itself a warning sign.
What should I do if I don't understand parts of it?
Ask, and don't sign until the answers land. A suitability report is supposed to be written so its intended reader can understand it — impenetrable prose is the adviser's failing, not yours. A good adviser will happily walk through it line by line; treat reluctance, impatience or 'it's just standard wording' as information. A useful test: could you explain to a friend what you're buying, what it costs per year in pounds, and why it beats the obvious alternative? If not yet, the meeting isn't finished.
Can a suitability report help me complain later?
It's usually the central document. A complaint to the firm or the Financial Ombudsman turns on whether the advice was suitable for your circumstances as they were known at the time — and the report is the firm's own written record of both. Errors in your recorded circumstances, a risk profile that doesn't match what you said, or missing warnings all strengthen a complaint. Keep every version you're given, permanently — and see how to complain about an adviser.

Sources and further reading

FCA Handbook — COBS 9: suitability · FCA — assessing suitability · MoneyHelper — working with a financial adviser

About this guide: general education only — not regulated advice or a personal recommendation, and FinancialAdvisor.co.uk is not an FCA-authorised firm. We explain what to look for in advice documents; we can't tell you whether a specific recommendation is right for you. Related: what advice costs and check an adviser.