Industry responds as minister says insurers must 'step up to' LTC challenge

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The ABI, Aegon and Partnership have responded to the care minister's plea for the insurance industry to offer more to people in terms of long-term care (LTC) products.

Care minister Norman Lamb said insurers needed to "step up to the plate" by developing solutions for funding care during an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme

Thomas Kenny, head of technical pricing at Partnership, said: "There are products available but the main issue at the minute is a chronic lack of consumer awareness that social care is not free.

"Most people are aware that they will retire but many don't save into a pension. So, with 72% of over-45s saying that they do not think that they will go into a care home, why would they worry about these costs? Add to this the perception that 33% still think the state will cover the costs if they go into care and you have a lack of information that is hampering engagement.

"The introduction of the pension reforms in April 2015 may well be a step towards a more engaged demographic - especially if care is mentioned as part of the Guidance Guarantee process."

Meanqwhile the ABI has issued an update on the progress made and the additional work required for the industry to be ready for the changes of the Dilnot Cap. 

Yvonne Braun, director, long term savings policy at the ABI said: "There is no ‘silver bullet' for social care insurance policy and little public appetite to buy stand-alone products to pre fund future social care costs, during people's working life. 

"Instead, more flexible retirement income products and protection products which can convert into social care cover are likely to emerge to help people plan for care."

Braun added:"We have been working closely with the government to create the conditions needed for greater use of financial services products in this area.

"The government's incoming pension reforms will increase choice, flexibility and personal responsibility and insurers are working flat out to be ready for their introduction.

"From these changes we expect the growth in more flexible retirement income products that can help people pay for any future social care needs."

Steven Cameron, regulatory strategy director at Aegon agreed: "In our view, a far better approach is to plan for social care costs within your retirement planning [instead of insurance plans]. We've always believed the best way of funding long term care is through income drawdown policies purchased with pension fund proceeds."

"The tax treatment of funds on death has also been changed, removing a previous disincentive to hold more of your funds back for later years.

He added: "This approach doesn't require you to pay upfront, just in case you need long term care. Instead, it allows you to use your pension fund flexibly without ‘locking away' a portion of your savings to protect against long term care costs that you may be fortunate enough never to need to pay.

"Rather than being concerned over the lack of an insurance based market taking off, we believe the government should take confidence in the growth of the income drawdown market. We would encourage them to help promote income drawdown as an attractive way of funding flexible income needs in retirement, including social care costs."

An indepedent review in 2014 said the industry had suffered a "market failure" in developing new products and called for health and social care to be merged instead.

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