LTC advice should be covered by Pension Wise - consumers

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Advice about long term care (LTC) needs is expected by 27% of consumers to be covered as part of the Pension Wise service, research for Partnership found.

However, a fifth (20%) of consumers said they wanted advice about LTC from the Pension Wise service.

Signposting to more advice was expected by 40% of the survey respondents although only 22% said they wanted it.

The research from Partnership also found that older age groups (aged 60-65) wanted more time for advice and that they were also keener on face-to-face sessions lasting as long as they had questions.

The research was conducted by Opinion Matters on behalf of Partnership questioning 2,900 people aged 40-70.

The Pension Wise service is the government's service to provide guidance to the public about the new pension freedoms being launched in April 2015. It seems the guidance will only focus on retirement planning and not care needs.  

Thomas Kenny, head of technical pricing at Partnership, said: "At the moment, the exact areas that the Pension Wise service will cover and in what depth remain vague.

"This research clearly highlights that many people want a range of information on the various financial issues that they are likely to face over their retirement - especially care.

"However, with the face-to-face consultations likely to only last 45-minutes, this will be a challenge and we may well find that issues - such as care funding - only receive a passing mention."

He added: "Hopefully, the fact that more people will be aware of the need to potentially fund later life care means that they will discuss this with their financial advisers - or even their families.

"Decisions around care funding are often made at point of need and can be incredibly traumatic for both the person and their relatives so anything which ‘starts people talking' is to be welcomed."

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