What does it actually cost to achieve the CII Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning?

If you're thinking about starting, or finishing. The CII Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning, the question that almost nobody answers cleanly is the obvious one: what is the whole thing going to cost me?

The honest answer is "it depends", because the CII sells each unit in three different enrolment formats, with multiple add-ons, and most candidates also spend money outside the CII on third-party study support. This article pulls every component together so you can budget properly before you click 'enrol'.

All CII prices below are taken from the CII shop and are correct for the 2025/26 enrolment year (exams sat between 1 September 2025 and 31 August 2026). Member prices apply if you hold CII / Personal Finance Society membership; non-member prices apply to everyone else.

What the Diploma actually is

The Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning is the FCA-recognised qualification for retail investment advisers in the UK. It is made up of six units:

• R01, Financial Services, Regulation and Ethics (20 credits, 2hr MCQ)
• R02, Investment Principles and Risk (20 credits, 2hr MCQ)
• R03, Personal Taxation (10 credits, 1hr MCQ)
• R04, Pensions and Retirement Planning (10 credits, 1hr MCQ)
• R05, Financial Protection (10 credits, 1hr MCQ)
• R06, Financial Planning Practice (30 credits, 3hr written case-study exam)

You need all six to be Diploma-qualified. There are no shortcuts and no half-credits.

The CII's three purchase options per unit

For every R0 unit, the CII gives you three ways to buy:

• Enrolment plus, study text (digital) + revision aids (Audio Revision, E-learn, Key Facts Booklet, Knowledge Checker on R01-R05) + assessment entry. This is the CII's default option.
• Enrolment only, study text (digital) + assessment entry. No revision aids.
• Assessment only, exam voucher on its own. No study material. This is what you buy if you already have the text or if you're resitting.

On top of that you can choose Digital or Digital + print. Print adds the hard-copy study text to your order.

CII headline prices for 2025/26

The numbers below are the live shop prices for each unit, digital format. Add roughly £15, £30 if you choose Digital + print.

Enrolment plus (the default, text + revision aids + exam)

Enrolment only (text + exam, no revision aids)

Assessment only (exam voucher only. This is also the resit price)

If you stack the cheapest path (member, Enrolment only, no resits) the six units cost £1,370. If you take the default (member, Enrolment plus, digital) it's £1,890.29. A non-member paying full Enrolment plus is looking at £2,523.89 before they buy anything else.

CII add-ons (Digital + print, individual revision aids)

If you've gone Enrolment only, or want to bolt extras onto Enrolment plus, these are the CII's per-aid prices. They are the same for every unit unless flagged.

Two things to flag: Revision Extra is not part of Enrolment plus and is sold separately. There is no Knowledge Checker or Revision Extra product for R06.

What it costs if you fail and need to resit

A CII resit is simply a new Assessment only purchase. You don't pay for the study text again, and you don't lose your existing RevisionMate access (which runs for 12 months from your original enrolment date).

That means a resit for R01-R04 or R06 costs £146 (member) / £200 (non-member), and R05 is £134 / £159. There is no penalty fee on top. It's the same as buying the assessment for the first time.

For R06, you also need to wait for the next available sitting (Jan, April, July or October) and you'll be working from a brand-new case study pair, so factor in the time as well as the £146/£200.

Requesting a remark

Remarks only apply to R06 (and other CII written units). The R01-R05 multiple-choice exams are computer-marked and cannot be remarked.

For R06, if your result is close to the 50% pass mark and you believe the marking was harsh, you can request an Enquiry on Result (EoR). The process is:

1. Submit the EoR form via the CII within the deadline stated on your result letter (typically a few weeks after results day).
2. Pay the published EoR fee at the point of submission. The fee is refunded if your grade changes as a result of the remark.
3. A senior examiner re-marks your script and the CII writes to you with the outcome, either confirming the original mark or revising it up or down.

Worth knowing: remarks rarely move a borderline fail into a pass. The senior examiner is looking for marking errors, not re-marking subjectively. If you were 10-15 marks below the pass mark, the time is almost always better spent preparing for the next sitting.

Third-party study support, what it adds

Very few candidates rely on CII material alone for R0 exams. Most use at least one third-party provider for exam-style question practice or written R06 analysis. Here's what each of the well-known providers costs at the time of writing, so you can plug them into your budget.

R0 Hub

That's us, and we keep pricing intentionally simple. R01-R05 are £20 per module, R06 is £55, and an all-six bundle is £125 (a saving of £70 against buying every module plus the calculation workbooks separately). There's also a Pick & Mix any 3 modules option at £50 (save £10), and standalone R02 / R03 Calculation Workbooks at £20 each. All one-off payments, lifetime access, no subscriptions.

Free users can sample 20 questions per module without paying.

Brand Financial Training (Brand FT)

Brand FT is best known for its mock exam packs and study kits. Per-unit pricing (R01 used as an example, with similar pricing across R01-R05):

• E-Mocks (online question bank, 4-month access), £50 inc VAT
• Mock Exams Pack (E-Mocks + downloadable mock PDFs), £75 inc VAT
• Silver Study Kit (E-Mocks + Revision Notes, 10% off), £89.10 inc VAT
• Higher-tier study kits (Gold/Platinum) bundle in calculation workbooks and audio masterclasses for R02/R03/R04, typically £120, £200+ depending on unit

Brand are well known for their R06 analysis. This costs £126 if you pre-order and £138 if you buy once released. They also offer packages that include live workshops.

Brand FT also offers free taster mocks for each unit, which are worth grabbing.

knowR0

knowR0 sells per-unit e-learning packages and mock exams, individually:

• R01 Mock Exams with e-learning, £35
• R02 e-learning package, £60
• R02 Mock Exams, £30
• R03 e-learning package, £50
• R03 Mock Exams, £25
• R04 e-learning package, £50
• R04 Mock Exams, £25
• R05 Mock Exams with e-learning, £20

knowR0 does not currently offer an R06 product.

Bespoke Training Solutions (BTS)

BTS is the heavyweight option, known for its detailed e-Learning, study guides and live revision workshops. Indicative pricing:

• Per-unit e-Learning Module (R01-R05, 120-day access), around £170 + VAT (~£205 inc VAT). R03 is currently listed at £170.83 (£205 inc VAT) as a worked example.
• Per-unit Study Guide, usually £40, £60 inc VAT per unit
• Online revision workshops (multi-day, R0 units), several hundred pounds per unit
• R06 analysis + workshop is the flagship product; expect to spend in the region of £300, £400+ for the case study analysis and live sessions combined

BTS also offers free sample packs per unit so you can preview the style before committing.

Plannex Training

Plannex sells three formats per R0 unit:

• Virtual Classroom (recorded, expert-led course), £170 + VAT per unit for R01-R05
• Plannex Training App (mock questions per unit), introductory £45 + VAT per unit for R01-R05
• Study Texts, currently £100 each for R02 and R03 only

Annual Plannex Connect membership unlocks one free Virtual Classroom (R01-R05) plus the wider community and CPD content, useful if you're going to study several units in a year.

Redmill Advance

Redmill Advance is best known among R06 candidates for its 70+ page case-study analysis document and accompanying webinar. R06 currently lists at £109 + VAT for one exam session's access. R01-R05 self-study courses are sold individually on the Redmill platform at similar price points (typically £100, £150 + VAT per unit). They also offer free trials so you can try the platform before buying.

Worked examples, what most candidates spend

A few realistic totals to set expectations.

The minimum-cost path (member, no resits, no extras)

• 6 × CII Enrolment only @ member rate = £1,370
• No third-party support
• Total: £1,370

This is the cheapest theoretical cost and assumes you pass every unit first time using only the CII study text. Realistic for confident candidates with industry experience on R01 and R05, less realistic for R02/R03/R06.

The typical first-time-pass path (non-member, default options + light third-party)

• 6 × CII Enrolment plus (digital) @ non-member rate = £2,523.89
• R0 Hub all-six bundle = £125
• Total: £2,648.89

The "I'm taking this seriously" path (member, Enrolment plus + multiple third-party providers + 1 resit)

• 6 × CII Enrolment plus @ member rate = £1,890.29
• One R01-R05 resit (Assessment only, member) = £146
• R0 Hub all-six bundle = £125
• Brand FT Silver study kit on R02, R03 and R04 (3 × £89.10) = £267.30
• BTS R06 analysis + workshop budget = ~£350
• Total: ~£2,778.59

Once you start factoring in multiple resits, BTS workshops on every unit, or paying non-member rates without a CII / PFS membership, you can comfortably push past £3,500.

A few money-saving moves worth knowing

• Join the Personal Finance Society / CII as a member before you buy your enrolments. The member discount on six Enrolment plus units alone is over £600, easily more than the membership fee.
• Buy Enrolment only if you already have a recent CII study text or you're using third-party material as your primary study source. You save roughly £90 per unit versus Enrolment plus.
• Use the free tasters from Brand FT, BTS and R0 Hub before paying for a full study kit. They cost nothing and tell you very quickly whether a provider's style suits you.
• Resit cost is just the Assessment only fee (£146 / £200 for most units). Don't re-buy Enrolment plus for a resit. You'd be paying for a second copy of the study text you already have.
• Bundle where you can. R0 Hub's all-six is £125 vs ~£195 buying each module separately. Plannex Connect membership saves a virtual classroom. BTS sometimes runs unit bundle deals around exam season.

The bottom line

If you're budgeting a single all-in number, plan for £2,000, £2,800 for the Diploma if you're efficient with your options and pass most units first time, and £3,000+ if you want every available third-party safety net or you anticipate one or two resits. The CII fees are the largest single line in your budget. The third-party providers add useful, but not unlimited, cost on top.

The good news: the Diploma pays back fast. Once it's done, it's done. There's no annual renewal fee and the qualification meets the FCA's RDR requirement for retail investment advisers for the rest of your career.