The latest research reveals advice firms face £85k a year in lost output dealing with poor service from platforms
The fourth wave of The Impact of Poor Service report from Parmenion and the lang cat reveals a five-adviser firm loses roughly four hours a week, or 10% of its time, to poor service.
Advice businesses are losing a conservative estimate of 4.1 hours in a 35-hour working week dealing with problems caused by poor service, new research shows. It equals a financial cost of £69,000 in lost monetary value, or £85,000 in lost output (where advisers’ time is valued by what they earn rather than what they cost).
In larger advice firms, these figures scale up, so a 12-person firm loses more than a five-person one as fee-earning capacity is higher. In a 12-person firm, the opportunity cost is comfortably more than a paraplanner’s and an administrator’s basic salaries combined.
The Service Impact Index
For the last three years, the research measured service in single numbers such as hours lost and number of apologies, but a new addition this year is the Service Impact Index. This measures the hours a week a typical firm loses to poor service, weighted by what that actually means for advisers in terms of chasing and finding workarounds.
The research highlights where adviser platforms are improving the service they offer advisers and their clients, and where they are still falling short. It found there is a widening gap: while some firms are seeing improvements or holding steady, for those most affected by poor service, hours lost are increasing.
Key findings
Time lost to poor service is roughly the same as last year overall at 4.1 hours per week
This equates to roughly 10% of a firm’s time
The real opportunity cost of this is about £85,000 in lost output each year
Some firms are holding steady or improving, but a smaller group is losing more hours than ever
The average impact score was 6.5/10, the same as in 2025. - Nearly 9 in 10 advice firms had to apologise to at least one client
Advisers complain about late annual review reports, poor co-operation from ‘zombie fund’ providers, or support tickets being closed without resolution
45% of advisers have changed platforms due to poor service
New Service Impact Index introduced to give a more consistent view of progress, counting business impact as well as hours lost
The report also notes that, for some firms, their primary platform is not the problem, rather the worst service can be found in legacy and secondary books, and old pensions and bonds a firm inherits rather than chooses.
Martin Jennings, Parmenion CEO comments:
“The honest headline this year is that the market has done enough to stop the rot, and not a great deal more. But ‘no longer getting worse’ is a low bar, and I don’t think any of us came into this industry to clear low bars. Parmenion’s Switch service was designed to offer quick data migration, trackable transfers and a transparent process that flexes to fit firms who know they and their clients deserve better.
"This year’s research shows that poor service comes at a cost beyond lost time, ongoing frustration and client dissatisfaction, and these costs ultimately find their way back to clients.
“We hope platform providers will be honest about where improvements are being made and where more work is needed, so we can raise the bar together.”
Steve Nelson, Insight Director, the lang cat, said:
“An hour lost dealing with poor service is an hour advisers aren’t spending with a client, improving their own processes, or generating new business. For this year’s report, we changed our analysis to include the Service Impact Index, giving us a better metric by which to measure the true cost to advisers’ business when platforms don’t deliver as they should. We found that some firms could be suffering a staggering £85,000 per year in lost output.
"Overall, this year’s report shows no consistent signs of improvement across the industry. But it shows 45% of advisers have switched platforms due to poor service, an increase on last year, so providers should remember advisers can and do vote with their feet.”
