"Advisers’ experience through Covid-19 is likely to embed this shift towards virtual communication and allow advisers to more frequently check in with their clients"
30% of respondents to the survey identified business growth as their main concern, up from 19% last year.
There has been a continued shift away from regulation being cited as a particular challenge. Some 19% of users felt regulation was their primary business concern, which is broadly in line with last year but represents a marked decrease from 27% in 2018.
Despite this, time spent on compliance was the most significant overall driver of capacity issues, with 51% citing time spent on compliance limiting their productivity.
42% said an increase in demand for their services is putting a strain on their workload, and a further 40% attributed capacity issues to spending time on processes that could be automated.
In line with the need for increased efficiency, 30% of firms were exploring alternatives to face-to-face advice prior to Covid-19, compared with 25% last year.
Another key business challenge to emerge was securing professional indemnity insurance. 52% of users found securing cover more difficult, and 62% said it had become much more expensive. Half of all respondents found the renewal process more difficult than the previous year.
Firms see the increasing demand for advice as the main opportunity for their business, with the need for financial planning services representing a major opportunity for 45% of respondents, compared with 39% last year.
Barry Neilson, chief customer officer at Nucleus, said: “Our latest census has found advisers are increasingly concerned about their ability to sustain and grow their current capacity. But it has also shown they are increasingly looking for new creative ways to communicate with clients, which will enable them to increase the time spent on their business. Advisers’ experience through Covid-19 is likely to embed this shift towards virtual communication and allow advisers to more frequently check in with their clients, perhaps instead of holding one or two face-to-face meetings a year.
“From our census we also now have hard data on how difficult it is for advisers to find PI cover, both in terms of availability and affordability. The lack of options is clearly putting advisers and planners in a position where they need to spend excessive amounts of money on cover which could have gone to servicing their clients or on business development.”
