Information on the number of reports on authorised firms by skilled persons and aggregate costs - April 2025

For the financial year 2023/24, how many reports on authorised firms by Skilled Persons did the FCA receive, and what were the aggregate costs to authorised firms of these reports.

Please note:

• This question does not relate solely to Skilled Persons Reports (S166 reports), but more widely to any reports produced by Skilled Persons that the FCA received during the period, regardless of whether they were designated as S166 reports.
• The question asks how many reports the FCA received, regardless of how the FCA received these reports i.e. from the Skilled Persons or from the authorised firms.

 The FoI request includes the aggregate number of reports produced by:

• Members of the FCA's Skilled Person Panel (as listed here: https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/documents/skilled-person-panel.pdf[1]); and
• third party professional service firms on a consultancy basis (including recognised professional bodies)
• And made available to the FCA (other than those reports commissioned under s166 or s166A of FSMA).
• Please limit the reports requested in this FoI to firms in the FCA's Pensions and Retail Investments portfolio.

For the financial year 2023/24, the number of s166 reviews commissioned in the Pensions and Retail Investments sector is 20. The total cost incurred for these reviews across the two financial years 2023/24 and 2024/25 (i.e. from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2025) was £6.4m. Please note that some of the 20 reviews are still in progress as at 1 April 2025. It is likely that future costs will therefore be incurred for reviews still in progress, which will increase the figure of £6.4m quoted above.

We would like to advise that we do not hold any data on consultancy reports outside of those commissioned under s166.