Great advice deserves good press
Join the financial advice firms recognised in The Times,
The Telegraph and nine new regional guides
Qualification for 2027 Top Rated Firm is now open
Join the firms already building confidence in the profession. The Guide appears in The Times and The Telegraph, and runs across regional editions. It’s read by over 5,000 accountants and solicitors, who refer clients to advisers every week.
The reach of the Guide campaign is made possible with the generous support of BlackRock and Fundment.
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Why qualify as Top Rated Firm?
2M+ readers across major UK titles, in print and online
Focused editorial linking clients to the expertise you provide
Nine digital regional guides
Stand out to clients
Join the exclusive list of firms who qualified in 2026
Celebrate your whole team
Top Rated Firm is a way to acknowledge the excellent work done by the whole firm
Attract and retain talent
Top Rated Firm is a powerful marketing tool for recruitment and acquisition
Promotional assets
Top Rated Firms will receive exclusive reputation tools to build confidence with prospects, clients and colleagues.
What’s in the Guide?
The Guide includes articles and case studies covering the areas where readers might benefit from financial advice: what financial planning is, the type of adviser they need, investing, mortgages, protection, equity release, retirement and inheritance tax.
Each year we also deep-dive into the decisions people are facing right now. The 2027 edition focuses on two key themes.
Retirement
How people fund life after work, and the decisions they face on the way there.
Mitigating tax
Practical guidance on protecting wealth through changing rules.
Does your firm qualify?
All firms need to meet the three mandatory requirements, plus at least two additional criteria for their advice type.
Mandatory criteria
Your firm must meet all three requirements.
What type of advice does your firm provide?
Financial Advice criteria
Your firm must meet at least 2 of these 3 criteria.
How the Guide helps you navigate AI
The Guide is an important authority signal for AI search, ensuring that your expertise shows up where it counts. But you can now take this even further with Verified+.
Verified has always helped advisers build trust through genuine client reviews and a professional online presence. Verified+ takes the next step.
As more people turn to AI-powered search to find financial advice, Verified+ helps your business become more visible where prospective clients are looking. It strengthens your digital presence, showcases your expertise and helps ensure your reputation is working harder for you.
Because today, having an excellent reputation is only part of the story. People need to be able to find it.
- Build on the trust you’ve already earned
- Increase your visibility across AI and search
- Help more prospective clients discover your business
Get in touch
Excellence in client service, recognised
The awards celebrate the firms and advisers which go furthest for
their clients, judged on real client feedback rather than submissions.
About our supporters
Why we work with Fundment
We believe that VouchedFor advisers represent the best in the profession. And we know that when good advisers are supported by the best technology, they have more time to focus on their clients.
So we’re delighted that the Top Rated Guide is supported by Fundment – an investment platform built to remove friction, deliver real-time accuracy and streamline complexity.
Why we work with BlackRock
The need for quality financial advice has never been greater. BlackRock is proud to support advice firms of all shapes and sizes in meeting their clients’ needs through cost-effective solutions such as MyMap, a range of actively managed multi-asset funds.
We’re delighted to work with BlackRock, who are supporting VouchedFor’s Top Rated Guide to champion the value of advice.
What Top Rated Advisers say
FAQs
1. Do I have to invite ALL my firm's clients to review my firm?
We always encourage firms to invite all their clients to leave reviews, in line with the spirit of Consumer Duty. This naturally gives firms the richest possible data set, from which to identify potential revenue opportunities and risks.
However, the qualification criteria is changing. Firms now need to receive 10 or more reviews for at least 80% of their advisers. The reason for this change is feedback we received that inviting all clients to leave reviews is a) difficult to evidence; and b) sometimes not practical.
Changing this criteria makes it easier for firms to evidence (and track) that they’ve met this criteria, while recognising that in some instances, it might not be appropriate to invite all clients to leave feedback.
Examples of possible reasons not to invite client feedback are listed below:
- New clients, who have been a client for less than 6 months (including clients inherited from a colleague)
- M&A clients, whose original firm was acquired by or merged with yours in the last 12 months
- Clients without an email address
- Celebrity clients
- Clients who are unwell or infirm
- Clients of advisers who are under notice
- Clients who have previously reviewed you on VouchedFor within the last 12 months
- Corporate clients
- Clients who have not paid you for a service within the last 12 month
2. Is there a deadline to qualify?
Yes. The deadline to qualify as a Top Rated Firm 2027 is 31st December 2026. We will assess which firms have qualified on this date.
3. Does my firm need to pay to be a Top Rated Firm?
Top Rated Firm accreditation is available to all Elevation member firms that meet the criteria. As such, a valid Elevation subscription is required to qualify as a 2027 Top Rated Firm; no other charges apply.
The reason for making Elevation a core part of the criteria is that its industry benchmarks and reports are the best data we have on whether a firm is doing a good job for its clients. Plus, the system tells us whether firms are engaging with and acting on their data to consistently improve client outcomes.
4. Do I have to qualify as the firm of the FCA ID I use?
An adviser ‘counts’ towards a firm name based on the FCA ID they have added to VouchedFor.
For a principal or directly authorised firm to qualify, all their advisers (incl. appointed representatives) will count in the Top Rated Firm process.
It is possible for an Appointed Representative (AR) to qualify without all ARs associated with their principal qualifying. This is provided that the AR is a limited company and ALL advisers associated with their trading style form part of the Top Rated Firm process.
5. Can the industry benchmarks change?
For simplicity, we have taken the benchmarks at a point in time and will keep them fixed as the criteria for qualification. This is to avoid expecting firms to hit a moving target.
6. Can I qualify if I don't have many clients?
Possibly. The award is grounded in data – so we need a certain number of data points to be sure it’s statistically significant. You need a minimum of 30 clients’ feedback from 2026 with the questions that power our Elevation system answered.
7. What if my firm tries to qualify but doesn't manage to?
At least you tried, which is testament to you ‘walking the walk’ with transparency. Plus, in trying to qualify, you will undoubtedly have collected evidence to help you meet the Consumer Duty, and identify opportunities to improve referrals and reduce risk.
8. Does a couple count as one or two clients?
Applicant firms can invite each person to leave reviews if they wish.
9. If we have financial advisers and mortgage advisers, which industry benchmarks apply?
We would take a view on which of the benchmarks to apply based on the proportion of your reviews relating to each service. If the vast majority of your reviews relate to financial advice for example, we would rely on the benchmarks for financial advice.
10. What if one of my firm’s advisers doesn’t take part?
As this is a firm-level award, we expect all your advisers to be on Elevation. We encourage firms to invite feedback from all of their clients (with some exemptions, see relevant FAQ). Provided 80% of your advisers receive 10 or more reviews, you can still qualify, so there may be edge cases where an adviser doesn’t receive any reviews (for example, if you have a new adviser with no clients), but this is not recommended.
11. What if I qualify and then my scores drop?
The decision as to which firms qualify as Top Rated Firms will be decided based on scores as at 31st December. Firms that qualify will feature as Top Rated Firms throughout 2026.
The only exception to this would be if we see a sharp drop in a firms’ scores, in which case we reserve the right to remove Top Rated Firm status.
12. Do I need to notify VouchedFor when I achieve the qualification criteria?
You do not need to manually notify the VouchedFor team when you achieve the qualification criteria. Once you reach the criteria your firm will be automatically flagged, and provided you maintain the requirements, you will be listed as a 2026 Top Rated Firm.
13. Will our firm feature in all copies of the Guide?
Yes, provided you remain a member of Elevation at the time of going to print, your firm will be featured in each edition of the Guide (March and June). Firms must remain an active member of Elevation so that we can verify that they remain committed to inviting all clients to give feedback.
14. We offer both mortgages and investment advice - do we need 30 reviews for both (60 total), or just 30 overall?
You’ll need at least 30 reviews for your primary service type. For example, if you’ve received 200 financial advice reviews in total and 250 mortgage advice reviews, you’ll be categorised as a mortgage advice firm – meaning you’ll need 30 mortgage advice reviews to meet the criteria.
15. Do all reviews in 2026 count? Even if Elevation questions weren’t asked/answered as the firms signed up for Elevation part way through 2026.
Yes. We’ll display the total number of reviews and total rating – all 2026 reviews will count, even if Elevation questions weren’t asked. Obviously only those with Elevation data will count toward the industry benchmark.
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