I am a Money Guider | The Money and Pensions Service

There are a range of practical ways you can put the competency framework into action.

Ways you can use the framework

Here are some ideas about how the framework can support peer-to-peer discussions, self-reflection and career planning.

If you want to review the money guidance you deliver in more depth, you can use our Self-Development Tool

Getting started

Self-reflection

Peer-to-peer discussion

Job role and career planning

Begin by finding your way around the competency framework:

Familiarise yourself with the foundation attributes. These are the 'must haves' needed by everyone delivering money guidance so they can provide a safe, quality service for customers.
Explore the 12 technical domains and their levels of complexity. Identify the domains and tiers you cover in your role and familiarise yourself with the competencies they include.

Reflect on the money guidance you deliver in your role and use the competency framework to help review and inform your practice:

How do I currently address the foundation attributes and technical domains?
In which areas do I have more confidence in my knowledge, skills and behaviours?
Are there areas in which I feel less confident and could benefit from support or development? e.g. discussion with colleagues, mentoring, training
Am I clear where my role meets any regulated boundaries?

Use the competency framework to structure discussions with colleagues who also deliver money guidance, or with Money Guiders in other organisations:

How does the breadth and depth of the competency framework relate to the money guidance we deliver? In what ways are our roles similar? How do they differ?
Do we share the same levels of expertise across the framework?
Are there any shared gaps in our coverage or access to training and development?
Can we share useful training and development that supports different competencies?
Can we agree what constitutes 'good practice' in different areas by sharing customer experiences and other work-based examples?

Identify areas of money guidance that you don't currently deliver but would like to in future:

Do I want to deliver broader money guidance that includes more technical domains?
Do I want to specialise in any of the technical domains or in more complex money guidance?
What training and development can I find that will help me move into new areas?
What evidence can I provide in my job seeking process that demonstrates my experience, progression, training and development in relation to competencies required in advertised job roles?

Use our self-development tool for Money Guiders

We've created a four-step process and a tool (built in Excel and coming soon) to help you review the money guidance you deliver and to help inform your personal development. It can be used flexibly to meet your needs and revisited over time.

1. Map your money guidance

The first step is to map the money guidance you deliver against the breadth and depth of the competency framework. The self-development tool helps you:

identify the competencies involved in the money guidance you deliver;
identify areas in which you have completed training or other continuing professional development (CPD), e.g. shadowing colleagues, peer support, supervision;
identify gaps in coverage, training and CPD that you could consider for future development and
prepopulate the tool with the competencies you will self-assess against in step two.

When you're ready you can move onto step two where you will self-assess your confidence levels. However, you can stop here if you simply want to explore the detail of the framework and establish how it fits with your role, training and development. Alternatively you can go straight to step three.

2. Self-assess confidence levels

The next step is to consider how confident you feel about the money guidance you deliver. The self-development tool helps you:

use a rating scale to self-assess your levels of confidence in the areas you identified in step one;
reflect on your areas of most and least confidence;
consider areas of least confidence for potential future training and development opportunities and
gather information to review in step three.

When you're ready you can move onto step three where you will review your strengths and areas for improvement. However, you can stop here if you simply want to record your confidence ratings for your own purposes.

3. Review

The next step is to review your strengths and areas for improvement. The self-development tool helps you:

review your gaps in coverage, and related training and CPD;
acknowledge your strengths and reflect on the areas in which you have most confidence (if you completed step two);
identify where you feel least confident and potential areas for development (if you completed step two);
use the collated information to prioritise areas for development within a flexible timetable or
prepopulate the action plan template you will complete in step four.

When you're ready you can move onto step four where you will form your action plan. However, you can stop here if you'd prefer to transfer the information onto your own template.

4. Action planning

The final step is to form your action plan. The self-development tool will help you:

synthesise the areas you have prioritised for self-development;
record training, development or other activities that can provide you with appropriate support and
plan your actions across a manageable timescale.

You can revisit your action plan - and all the other steps in the process - over time, for your own personal development or as part of a more formal work-related review. Whatever the purpose, it can form the basis of a sustainable process to review, develop and enhance your role, in line with the competency framework.