Future Financial Adviser, the digital community launched in 2024 to promote the benefits of the financial advice profession to young career seekers, is broadening its coverage to support the career pathway from mortgage advice into financial advice.

The initiative, built on the principles of community and collaboration, was established to help young people discover more about the profession, match their talents with potential employers and progress their careers.

It offers outreach programmes through schools, colleges and universities across the UK, alongside social-media campaigns and a national jobs board for entry-level roles.

To date, more than 3,000 accounts have been opened, with over 1,500 active members engaging in the community.

Funding partners include St James’s Place, Quilter, The Openwork Partnership and Ascot Lloyd, with collaboration from professional bodies such as LIBF, CISI, CII/PFS and The Verve Foundation.

The new focus will see Future Financial Adviser expand its jobs board to cover entry-level mortgage roles nationwide and offer a platform for apprenticeship opportunities.

TikTok campaigns will be used to reach young audiences at scale, highlighting opportunities in both mortgage and financial advice.

To support this expansion, a new three-tier funding model has been introduced.

Future Financial Adviser will continue to work with large advice firms with academy structures, but will also invite mortgage networks, national broker firms and, for the first time, sponsorship from major providers and suppliers to both professions.

Advice and mortgage firms will pay a small annual registration fee to access the jobs board and apprenticeship listings.

Piers Johnson, managing director of emap Ltd, said: “Future Financial Adviser is a tremendously exciting project to put financial advice on the map with young people and transform a profession.

“The decision to include support for the career pathway from mortgage advice to financial advice is a natural progression, which will help us build even greater scale.

“However, we do need the support of the profession and the industry to achieve these aims.”

The initiative aims to encourage both school leavers and career changers to consider roles in advice, while also helping firms attract and develop new talent at a time when the profession faces growing pressure to close the advice gap.