Language Policy

Summary

We aim to tailor the support that we provide to individual clients’ needs. However, we also recognise that we cannot offer appropriate support for everyone who might seek financial advice from us. This policy is intended to approach how we deal with language issues. We want to ensure all our clients understand our service and can engage in meaningful communications with us. This is essential to achieving good outcomes for our clients.

English as a Second Language 

From time to time, CAM may engage with potential clients for whom English is not their first language. Where this situation arises, CAM’s advisers will work closely with the individual concerned to explore how viable it may be for us to provide services to them. We will discuss what is involved and obtain information about how confident the individual feels with understanding and communicating in English. We will work together to determine whether our service will meet their needs on all levels; being able to achieve the financial objectives of a potential client isn’t enough. There are many elements of the client’s journey with us and we need to ensure that all clients have a strong understanding of our service at all stages and can freely communicate with us.

If we are working with a couple who wish to open a joint account, whilst we are happy for one individual to take the lead in communications with us, it is essential that both account holders can fully understand our service and communicate clearly with us if they wish to do so.

Members of the CAM team have a variety of language skills. However, we do not have the qualifications needed to interpret at meetings and all our documentation is in English. We do not have the resources to support the provision of documents in other languages so, again, it is very important that all our clients have a good level of competency in English.

Advisers

We will rely upon our advisers to determine that their clients have sufficiently strong understanding of, and ability to communicate in, English for our services to be suitable for them.

We have considered whether we would be able to work with a client who needed to rely upon the services of an adviser who spoke their primary language to understand our services and our communications to them.  Whilst we would always be willing to consider individual cases, it would not generally be possible for us to work with a client who relied upon an adviser to translate information for them. There are many reasons for this decision but, at the foremost of our thoughts, is that we may need to communicate urgently with a client, and this would not be possible if the adviser was not available. We would also be concerned that, if the adviser was no longer working at the Firm with whom the client engaged, it would be very difficult for us to continue to provide good outcomes to them.

Third parties

We acknowledge that there may be some situations when we need to deal with third parties who are less confident in communicating in English, for example: executors who are working with us according to a Grant of Probate for a deceased client or relatives of a client who are acting under a Lasting Power of Attorney. In such circumstances, we will make every effort to ensure that the third party understand CAM’s actions and feel confident in our communications to them. We are particularly conscious of the need to provide extra support if vulnerable persons are involved. However, we note that in some circumstances, it may be necessary to involve translators or interpreters to ensure that all parties are clear about how the situation is proceeding.

Documents in a Foreign Language

If clients that we have requested in a foreign language, e.g.: a Birth or Death Certificate or other proof of identity or address, we may them to provide us with a certified translation to enable us to confirm the contents. Some third parties that provide services to us, such as SIPP or offshore bond providers, may have additional requirements. It is very important that clients adhere to these requirements promptly to enable those providers to deal with clients’ requests in a timely manner.

British Sign Language

Please note that for clients who use British Sign Language, we will consider each case individually. We do not currently have a member of the CAM team with BSL skills. Whilst we may be able to leverage strong written communications and use video to support lip reading, if a client may need the support of a sign language expert we would consider the practical implications, particularly if communications or decisions were needed urgently.