IFA declared "not a fit and proper person" by FSA. Is this serious?

There is probably no legal or ethical reason to prevent you working with this person. Does the declaration have a period after which it is spent (like a prison sentence)? - I doubt it.

Therefore it is down to you to decide whether you trust the person, whether that person will harm your customers and reputation.

Thanks for the reply. I removed my original post by accident before you replied, so I posted it again.

I don't think the declaration is spent after a period. The Financial Service Authority states that this person has failed to deal with some complaints in the past, contravening the regulations, and conclude she is not a fit and proper person to perform governing function as an IFA. They do not give the details of what the complaints were.

I suppose I would ask her to come clean. If there are some unanswered questions I'd walk. She ought to have kept a file on what's happened, so ask for it. If it's too prying for her, again walk. There might have been a good reason at the time, pregnancy, death in family, all sorts of reasons. It is up to her to allay your fears.

In the end it's personal choice. Have you known this person for long? Do you trust her? Working for you is one thing, but working "with" is something different. How long ago did this all happen?

I didn´t express myself well. By working with I meant I'm receiving financial advice from her, I'm her client. Specifically, she would help me with investment recommendations but she wouldn't directly handle the money.

Well I could never have guessed you were the client from what you wrote. Did you find out about the declaration or did she volunteer it?

I found out myself from the FSA website.