The inaugural FPA Value of Advice Awards were presented last week. And although the five available categories were keenly contested, the judges declined to make an award for the “community contribution”.

The FPA says standards had been set high as a benchmark for years to come, and the entries for the category did not meet them. Effectively, the judges withheld announcing a winner until next year.

CEO Jo-Anne Bloch says the inaugural Value of Advice Awards showed the importance of financial planning not just for those with accumulated wealth but also for those with limited financial resources.

“Many people are still not aware of all their entitlements or of changes in regulations and, despite attempts to simplify areas such as superannuation, there are many areas where advice can make all the difference to people’s financial position,” Ms Bloch said.

She says many winners emphasised that financial planning is about having a wide range of knowledge and experience to help people in their everyday lives.

National award winners were selected after passing through state nomination for the selected categories.

Philippa Elliott of Epic Adviser Solutions in Western Australia won the wealth accumulation division; Ben Hatcher of Hillross Financial Services in NSW won the post-retirement planning and management section; Queenslander Neil Kendall of Charter Financial Planning won for low-income planning; and Tasmanian Rod Scurrah of Garvan Financial Planning won the national award for pre-retirement planning.