It's not the destination, it's the journey

If you had told me two years ago that I would be doing another professional qualification, 15 years after completing my last one, I probably would have laughed. I have thought about completing a STEP qualification before, but decided that there was no way I was entering an exam hall again. Then I discovered the Essay Route.

I looked at the questions (there is a choice of ten each year) and read that each essay should be around the 5,000-word mark and that there would plenty of time to complete them, as the topics are published in January with submissions in July and October each year. There was a question that stood out to me, one that suited me perfectly: discretionary trusts and chargeable event bonds, something that I had previously been interested in.

Next, I had various conversations with partners and the training team at my firm. Although there are various people around the firm studying with STEP through the Exam Route and the firm has experience of the Expertise Route, no one had done the Essay Route before. Everyone was supportive and encouraged me to go for it, and our Head of Private Client, Gary Heynes TEP, wrote the reference for my application. I was registered and so needed to get on with an essay.

Essay one

The essay I had chosen fell into two distinct parts: a ‘legal’ part around capacity and how trustees that lose capacity can be replaced, and a ‘tax’ part around the implications of surrendering the bond in various scenarios. I started researching and writing the tax part first, breaking down the answer into sections and getting into the swing of writing a technical essay rather than an advisory report for a client. Then I dove into the research on the legal aspects, which I really enjoyed. Once the essay was written, I made sure it flowed, answered the question and was within the word limit.

I submitted the essay in July 2021 and kept it very quiet, limiting those at work that knew to a select handful. It was then a wait until October for the results, when an email landed in my inbox saying that not only had I passed, I had passed with a distinction.

Essay two

I had cautiously not entered a second essay in 2021, waiting to see how the first went, so there was then a wait until January for the new questions to be released; a date that I had marked in my diary. Although January is always slightly manic, working in private client tax, when the topics came out I instantly picked my favourite: a question about deeds of variation and bereaved minors trusts. Sensibly waiting for January to be out of the way, I then proceeded with the research and writing, submitting in July 2022.

Essay three

This time, I did not delay until the results came in and opted to get stuck in with the third essay. I picked an inheritance tax essay topic on agricultural and business property reliefs. This essay was far more technical from a tax perspective than the other two, but also offered significant scope for planning points and relevance to clients. I researched, wrote notes, drafted sections of essay, deleted them when they did not flow, then completed it, noting that I was well over the word limit. I cut the essay down, leaving in a section about potential tax changes that had been recommended by the UK Office of Tax Simplification (the OTS). Then came Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini Budget where he announced the OTS would be shut down. I resisted the temptation to shorten the essay and therefore be under the word limit by simply hitting delete on that section. After careful editing, the essay came in under the word limit and was submitted. Nothing more to do, I waited for the emails with results. My second result came out in October and I was again delighted to be awarded a distinction.

Now that my colleagues are aware that I am following the Essay Route to STEP membership and I have some results back, I have shared my essays with them and am being contacted by others around the firm who are interested in sharing my knowledge and using this to advise clients.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the research and writing, being afforded a chance to get into the detail of a topic without the time pressure that client work can often bring. I would recommend the Essay Route to anyone who is interested in learning more about trust and estate topics but does not want the pressure of studying for an exam. The email with my final result arrived in January, so I have now completed my membership application – all that is left for me to do now is wait for that to be processed, as well as enjoy using the knowledge I’ve gained to better support my clients.