Care advice is coming out of the niche and into the mainstream, according to Jacqueline Berry, founder of My Care Consultant.
Berry, alongside Steven Cameron, pensions director at Aegon and Robin Melley, managing director of Matrix Capital discussed the impacts of Labour scrapping the social care funding deal and how industry could better support advisers in this area.
Berry said: “This isn't about firms giving regulated payed for care advice across the board, this is about thinking about the clients they have.
"Carers UK last year, released some really interesting research, highlighting that 50 per cent of us in the UK will be an unpaid family carer to an older adult in our families by the age of 50.
“So, if you look at the average age of client banks, a report from Schroders highlighted that more than 78 per cent of client banks were between the ages of 51 and 64 in terms of the client average age. Well, that is the sweet spot for caring.
“Therefore you could argue that this is a huge vulnerable cohort in any bank, no matter what advice specialism you focus on. So it is something that for me, I'm seeing care advice coming out of the niche and into the mainstream for the first time,” Berry explained.
Cameron believed the adviser community needs to look at how it could work with solutions already available to them.
He said: "There's no one size fits all here. Care advice will involve looking at pensions which will also involve looking at housing, wealth and other savings and investments."
While Melley highlighted a lack of understanding and confusion around available later life options.
He added: “I have done a number of seminars for firms, lawyers and financial planners, and when I tell them there are nine ways to fund care, they are always surprised to hear that.
"There's a huge need to educate people on what the options are in terms of preparing for later life and also when they've got an immediate need."
To hear more about what we may expect from the Labour government on social care click the image above.
alina.khan@ft.com
