SimplyBiz's not-for-profit training division has received additional funding from the government to open up more training opportunities for aspiring financial advisers and paraplanners.
The group announced the Education and Skills Funding Agency would help fund the growth plans for its New Model Business Academy and enable SimplyBiz to extend its apprenticeship programme.
SimplyBiz said it could not reveal how much funding it had received, because it was commercially sensitive.
The programme already has more than 100 students in its adviser and paraplanning schemes, with a new cohort already enrolled for July and further classes planned for the autumn.
NMBA has been working with advice companies across England to identify apprenticeship needs as well as engaging with a number of external providers to secure additional funding for the academy.
SimplyBiz launched its financial adviser apprenticeship programme in March 2018, after becoming accredited as an approved training provider, with its paraplanning equivalent launching later that year.
Richard Ardron, joint managing director of the academy, said: “The apprenticeship programme, which was first launched in April 2018, is hugely important to the NMBA and to the wider industry.
“The additional funding from the ESFA recognises our achievements in our first year of running the apprenticeship schemes, and we are delighted to be able to extend it to even more advisers, and advisers of the future.
“Bringing new blood into the industry is vital to two of the issues about which we are most passionate; ensuring the ongoing success of the financial advice profession and helping to increase consumer access to advice, and remains one of our core areas of focus.”
Last year NMBA warned that without apprenticeships providing entry points into the industry the numbers of financial advisers would continue to dwindle.
SimplyBiz's academy hit a milestone in January when it grew the academy to 160 apprentices, stating it anticipated meeting a growing demand for advice in the market.
imogen.tew@ft.com
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