About Jo
Experience you can rely on. A practical approach you can work with.
I'm Jo Cratchley, founder of Cratchley Compliance and a Compliance, Quality Assurance and Training & Competence consultant with more than 30 years' experience in UK financial services.
I've spent my career working across financial advice, paraplanning, supervision, quality assurance and compliance. That means I understand regulation from a compliance perspective, but I also understand what it's like on the other side of the desk — working with clients, delivering advice and dealing with the practical realities of running an advice business.
That experience shapes the way I work today.
I believe good compliance should protect clients, support advisers and give senior management confidence that their business is operating as it should. It should provide appropriate challenge and oversight without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.
From Advice to Compliance & Quality Assurance
My career in financial services has given me experience across a broad range of roles and responsibilities.
I've worked directly with clients as an adviser, supported the advice process through paraplanning and developed extensive experience in Quality Assurance, Training & Competence and compliance oversight.
Over the years, I've reviewed thousands of advice files, assessed adviser competence, supported developing advisers, undertaken compliance audits and helped firms strengthen their systems, controls and regulatory processes.
I've also seen what happens when compliance becomes overly complicated, disconnected from the advice process or focused more on completing a checklist than understanding the actual risk.
That is something I try very hard not to replicate.
Why I Started Cratchley Compliance
After more than three decades working within financial services businesses, I established Cratchley Compliance to provide firms with experienced, independent support on a more flexible basis.
What started primarily as Quality Assurance and file review support has naturally developed into something broader.
Today, I work with financial advice firms across Training & Competence, Quality Assurance, compliance assurance, governance, Consumer Duty, management information and regulatory projects.
Some firms need ongoing support. Others need additional expertise for a particular project, an independent assessment of their existing arrangements or simply another experienced pair of eyes.
That flexibility is an important part of what I offer.
My Approach
Practical. Proportionate. Independent.
I don't believe every compliance issue requires another policy, spreadsheet or 40-page procedure.
Sometimes the answer is simply to understand why something isn't working properly and fix it.
When I work with a firm, I take the time to understand how the business actually operates before deciding what needs to change.
That might mean challenging an existing process, strengthening adviser oversight, improving management information, simplifying a cumbersome register or helping the firm evidence something it is already doing well.
Where I identify an issue, I'll explain why I think it matters and what I would recommend doing about it.
And where something is working well, I'll say that too.
Compliance shouldn't be about finding fault for the sake of it.
Working With Advisers
One of the parts of my work I particularly enjoy is Training & Competence.
Assessing competence isn't just about checking qualifications, CPD hours and file review results. It is about understanding how an adviser works with clients, applies their technical knowledge, exercises judgement and ultimately delivers good outcomes.
My approach to T&C is therefore supportive but appropriately challenging.
I want advisers to understand what good looks like and why it matters, rather than simply being told that they have failed to complete another compliance requirement.
Where development is needed, it should be meaningful and relevant to the individual adviser.
Qualifications & Professional Experience
My professional qualifications include:
QCF Level 4 Diploma in Financial Planning
AF7 – Pension Transfers
Supervision in a Regulated Environment
Long Term Care
Advanced Mortgage Qualification
Equity Release
My wider experience includes:
Compliance and regulatory oversight
Quality Assurance and file review
Training & Competence
Adviser supervision and competence assessment
Financial planning and advice
Paraplanning
Retirement planning
Investments and wealth management
Consumer Duty
Vulnerable customers
Governance and management information
Compliance audits and monitoring
Complaint and E&O investigations
Process and control improvement
What You Can Expect From Me
I work independently, but collaboratively.
I'm comfortable challenging advisers and senior management where I believe something needs attention, but I'm equally comfortable saying when a process is proportionate and working well.
I won't recommend additional controls simply because “that's what everyone else does”.
I will consider the regulatory requirement, the risk, the size and nature of your business and the outcome you're trying to achieve.
Most importantly, you'll always deal directly with me.
No account managers. No passing work down a chain. No generic compliance package.
Just experienced, practical support tailored to your business.
Let's Talk
If you're looking for ongoing Compliance, Quality Assurance or Training & Competence support — or you have a particular issue or project you'd like another perspective on — I'd be happy to have an initial conversation.
There doesn't need to be a fully formed brief.
Sometimes “Can I just run something past you?” is a perfectly good place to start.
Jo Cratchley
Cratchley Compliance
