Long Term Care Matters
• * just under 60,000 of this group will have their care privately funded.
• Of these, less than 7,000 of these individuals are believed to have received the benefit of financial advice..
If you find that you may be facing the prospect of financing your own care, either in a Care Home or in your own home, it is essential that you seek the right advice as soon as possible. Some of these costs may be met from savings or investments – either from the person’s assets needing care or sometimes from their family. This presents the real possibility that a person’s estate could be seriously reduced or the available money may even run out – particularly as once settled in a care home and receiving a good quality of care, fees may have to be met for several years.
By seeking the right advice and taking appropriate steps from the very beginning can help alleviate the financial worries that Long Term Care and its funding can bring with it and provide peace of mind for you and your family.
Even if you are not in need of immediate care at this time, you may worry that your family will not be able to benefit from an inheritance if the majority of your estate is used to fund long term care fees. If care is needed, or if the money depletes, there may also be a worry that you might have to move to a cheaper Care Home or your family may be asked to pay top-up fees over and above what the Local Authority would be willing to pay. All of these worries can be very distressing for the whole family, and can sometimes have a negative effect on the older person’s health and wellbeing.
Unfortunately, many people are not fully aware of and therefore do not take advantage of State support. Or if they do, they do this without fully appreciating the possible consequences.
Later Life Matters fully understand the complexities surrounding Local Authority and Healthcare support as well as State Benefits such as those overseen by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). As a result, we will ensure that you are made aware of your entitlements as well as the financial products available, including whether or not these will have an effect on your affordability or other benefits you may be in receipt of together with the sustainability of your chosen care.
Later Life Matters Limited can advise you on all of the above topics, which will be clearly set out in a personal report for you. In order for us to do this we will need to obtain some specific, personal information from you; this will be analysed and the report will illustrate your options in meeting your care costs over the medium to longer term. You are not under any obligation to proceed with or indeed implement any of our recommendations at any time. All information will be treated in accordance with confidentiality and data protection rules.
It is vitally important that when you are considering your care funding choices, that you seek advice from an adviser who is qualified under Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulation and holds the appropriate examinations. I am pleased to advise that our advisers hold the CF8 Long Term Care qualification and are authorised and regulated by the FCA. Our advisers are also fully accredited members of SOLLA – the Society of Later Life Advisers.
It is important that when considering Long Term Care planning, other areas of regulated financial advice such as investments and savings, retirement planning and equity release are taken into consideration. On many occasions, those needing Long Term Care also review their position with regard to estate planning and take the opportunity to update their Wills, create Lasting Powers of Attorney and put some forms of inheritance tax planning in place, where appropriate. This provides peace of mind to not only the person needing care but also their families, who can rest assured that all of these matters are resolved and avoid being distracted by worries or problems that may arise in the future.
We are more than happy to meet with other members of your family and would always recommend that an older person have a family member or friend present during all of our discussions to ensure they feel comfortable and at ease during our meetings. If attendance by a family member is not possible in terms of availability, we will happily send a copy of our report to them or meet with them separately at your request.
*Source: Laing and Buisson Care Homes for Older People, 31st edition 2021 via Just Group plc
Later Life Matters Limited is entered on the FSA register (www.fsa.gov.uk/register/) under reference 924987.
The Financial Conduct Authority do not regulate Will Writing, Loans, Credit Cards or some forms of mortgages, tax advice, offshore investments or estate planning.
Mortgages on and Equity Released from your home will be secured against it
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