Advised platforms saw gross sales increase to record levels in the third quarter of 2025, although outflows spiked to new highs after two quarters of consecutive falls, analysis from The Lang Cat has revealed.

New business onto advised platforms hit a record high in Q3 2025, with gross sales up by 5.84 per cent to £23bn, aided by growing advice client books, cash coming back into the market, the re-wrapping of investments into other products, and increased competition between platforms.

The third quarter’s gross sales beat the previous record from Q1 2025, with figures heading towards a record-breaking year for new business.

Despite record gross sales, net sales fell by 12.24 per cent in Q3 to £5.06bn, although this was a 59.3 per cent increase year-on-year.

Following two quarters of consecutive falls, outflows across advised platforms increased to a record high of £17.94bn in Q3 2025, likely driven by a combination of Budget rumours and the impact of planning for inheritance tax (IHT) to include pensions from April 2027.

Assets under advice (AUA) rose by 5.93 per cent on the previous quarter to £711.18bn, corresponding to a 13.87 per cent increase compared to Q3 2024.

The Lang Cat said the majority of this was due to market movement of existing AUA.

“Q3 2025 continues the theme of strong sales we’ve seen throughout 2025, and it seems we’re destined for a record-breaking year for gross sales unless something dramatically changes in the final quarter,” commented The Lang Cat senior analyst, Rich Mayor.

“Four out of the five best quarters for gross sales have been the past four quarters, with Q3 2025 topping the lot.

“Until the third quarter all the metrics were pointing in the right direction, but a spike in outflows has hit net sales this time around. Platforms have been telling us there’s an increase in pre-Budget activity.

“Last year we had spikes in tax free cash withdrawals ahead of Budget rumours that were reflected in Q4 numbers, but the chatter started earlier this year. There’s not the same level of tax free cash withdrawals this time around, but we’re also seeing the effect of IHT planning for the upcoming pension changes on outflows too.

“Some of that will be utilising gifting and will come out of platform AUA, but some is being re-wrapped into other products like bonds. These are big changes for a market that has grown mainly from pension assets over the past couple of decades."

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