The value of long-term care advice

Also, it’s not going to change for a considerable amount of time, so there is a need to try to avoid complacency and remind [clients] what the current situation is. There are going to be people affected right up until implementation of the new regime in 2017.

What more can be done from financial service providers?

This is about the wider issue of financial advice. If people become more used to dealing with financial products, they will become more used to seeing what products are available. I really don’t think we can expect the financial services sector to save government on this. I know government are engaging with financial services on this and the sector is willing to help.

The cap is very welcome in terms of identifying a market sector but it’s set at such a level that it will be difficult for product providers to find an appropriate product to manage the risk and it would be economically valuable to the consumer and at the same time buy into that. I can’t speak about product development specifically but my feeling is if it comes,

I don’t see the old fashioned original pre-funded products coming back at all. I see innovation coming if it does, in a combination of products such as equity release and products related to disabilities. I see those as being add-ons to existing market sectors instead of new products.

The biggest product that financial services have to offer is advice. We have that in abundance and it’s not limited. That will make a huge difference.

How do you feel about the future of LTC advice?

I think it’s a growth area and a great area for advisers to be involved in. If advisers do not want a quick fix and they are able to work on empathy, which most advisers can work on in abundance, and they enjoy it [they are suited to this area]. I’m most optimistic about it because I can see a real head of steam building up in financial services of the recognition this is a key area, and this can only be a good thing for the consumer.

CV: Tish Hanifan

Tish qualified as a barrister in 1984 and has over 20 years’ experience in working with older clients.

Tish is a founder member and board director of Solicitors for the Elderly (SFE) and chair of the Kent branch of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (S.T.E.P).

Since January 2009, she has been the joint chair of the Society of Later Life Advisers. The Society of Later Life Advisers is a not for profit organisation. It aims to meet the needs of consumers, advisers and those who provide financial products and services to the later life market.

She set up accreditation for later life advisers with the Financial Skills Partnership. She also helped to produce both the Appropriate Exam Standards and the Appropriate Advice standard for LTC

Tish is also a director of professional training company Legal Support Services and SVARfair, a financial services consultancy company specialising in financial services communications and the older client market.