The Case for Change for the Diploma of Financial Counselling

Written on the 14 July 2021 by Kate Fox

The Financial Counselling Case for Change has gone to public consultation. It is available on the SkillsIQ website until 5pm Thursday 22 July. To see the document FCA sent to SkillsIQ,and on which the SkillsIQ consultation is based (and is partly reproduced by them in Appendix F) please click here.

Below is information from Fiona Guthrie:

In summary, the proposed changes are:

• Updating the Diploma overall.
• Updating the three existing financial counselling units.
• Adding two new units one on small business and an additional financial counselling unit dealing with an integrated model of financial counselling.
• Removing two units (to make way for the two new units) the units to go would be the systemic advocacy unit (with relevant parts of this being picked up instead in the new integrated model of financial counselling) and removing one of the counselling units (which was essentially duplicating what is already there in some of the other counselling units).
• Removing the community development unit for rural financial counselling students and replacing that with an elective. (This is not included in the public consultation, but we expect it to be requested in the feedback from the rural sector.)

Consultation originally occured in February 2020 but was placed on hold due to COVID-19. The consultation we conducted in putting together the case for change reflected a very strong view that there was a need for more content targeted directly at financial counsellors. That is why there is a proposal to add two more targeted units. The addition of targeted units necessarily means letting go of some of the other stand- alone units.

Proivde your feedback

The issue that worried some people in February 2020, was the idea that the systemic advocacy unit would no longer be a stand-alone unit. As noted above, the case for change instead would see systemic advocacy incorporated into the new financial counselling unit on integrated practice.

You are welcome to send your feedback directly to SkillsIQ via email

SAFCA is very interested in the views of members about this and all other aspects of the proposed changes.

If you would like to provide feedback to us so we can understand more about what SA and NT members think about the proposed changes, please us a response no longer than one page addressing the following: 

• If there is a view that the systemic advocacy should remain as a stand alone unit. What structure do you think would work better instead?
• Are there any other areas of concern with the proposed changes and why?
• Is there anything you really like about the proposed changes that you want to affirm and why?
• As it is such a tight timeframe for a response, any feedback would need to be received in writing to by COB on 19 July.

Responses to be send to SAFCA via email.