A new role and shared purpose

We are delighted that Paul Browne has joined the ILM as our new Head of Professional Standards this month. Paul shares a summary of his exciting plans for his role.

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I am delighted to have joined the ILM as Head of Professional Standards, following more than a decade with Legacy Link.

I look forward to working with dedicated colleagues across the sector to develop practical skills, guidance and support that help us raise standards and improve the legacy administration experience.

Listening to the sector

Over the coming months, I plan to listen carefully to your views and priorities through forums, events, WhatsApp groups and informal conversations. I want to understand what support you need to work more effectively and to help create a better experience for everyone involved in legacy administration, including:

· Legacy Officers carrying out administration;

· solicitors managing probate and casework;

· lay executors; and

· family members navigating the process.

Working with professional partners

We also need to understand and respond to the needs, skills and working practices of our professional partners, including probate teams, contentious legal advisers, surveyors, property auction specialists and specialist house clearance providers.

By working more effectively together, we can make legacy administration clearer, smoother and more supportive for everyone involved.

Developing practical guidance

With the help of two members, I have already brought forward a new factsheet on royalties, which you should see very soon.

If you encounter an issue where clear best practice or guidance is not yet available, please raise it with me. By sharing those gaps, we can develop the right support and make it available for the benefit of all members.

Over the next few months, I will review all ILM guidance and best practice. I will very much welcome your input as I take this work forward.

Education and development

One of the areas ILM already delivers to a very high standard is training, including CICLA, LMAP, the Diploma, Leadership Accelerator and short courses such as Legacy Essentials.

I encourage you to take full advantage of the training and webinar programme here.

I hope to help define what “good” looks like for all of us, so we can establish a sector-wide standard of operation: a practical, usable model that members can apply day to day and share within their own organisations.

We will shortly introduce our apprenticeship scheme, and I will be working with experienced colleagues from across the sector to bring this to you.

Technology

As those of you who know me will understand, I have a particular interest in technology and its role in improving legacy administration.

I will continue to work closely with our partners at First Class Software and MiExact to help the whole sector benefit from improvements in systems and data.

When it comes to AI, ILM’s role is to help map a path towards safe and effective adoption: using it as a tool to improve efficiency, not as a replacement for the critical thinking that defines excellent legacy administration.

Used well, AI has the potential to standardise processes and methods, improve efficiency and free professionals to focus on complex decisions.

Let’s do this together

I am here to help, and to use my experience and knowledge to improve what it means to be a Legacy Officer — a job I love doing.

So please take me at my word: communicate with me in whatever way feels comfortable, and let’s work together to make the sector better for everyone.