LATER LIFE PLANNING (LONG-TERM CARE)

One of our IFAs, Graham Tracey, is an accredited member of The Society of Later Life Advisers (SOLLA) – one of the few in the North West to hold this specialist position.

Through his involvement with SOLLA, Graham is an acknowledged expert in long-term care fees planning advice, having won a national award from the care fees organisation Symponia for the quality of his reports in 2014. We are keen to share this expertise with any one who has friends or family members who may be facing the prospect of paying for their care.

Families can easily feel overwhelmed by the task of wading through the mass of information and regulations at what is inevitably a stressful and emotional time when a loved one requires care. Graham’s aim is to act as a trusted adviser, providing a central point of information and specific advice, as well as liaising with or introducing a solicitor or other professionals to create an over-arching solution. He is also trained as a Dementia Friends Champion, reflecting an appreciation of the sensitivities required when helping elderly or vulnerable people.

The process through which Graham takes families is to help them explore the options for care and the environment that the individual would prefer – this may be domiciliary (at home) or residential/nursing. Once the shortfall between care costs and a person’s income is calculated, strategies for meeting this shortfall and ensuring that this is sustainable for life (however long this may be) are explored. These could be a combination of drawing down on capital, considering options for the house (like equity release or a deferred payments agreement), investing for income (within a cautious risk strategy), and immediate needs annuities (which can only be advised on by a specialist adviser like Graham).

The £72,000 cap on care costs under the Health and Social Care Act has now been shelved (probably indefinitely), but in any event had been widely misinterpreted by sections of the media, and it was never the case that the authorities would pick up the tab once this amount had been spent

The impact on the eventual value of an estate, as well as the quality of care throughout later life, may be massively improved by seeking timely expert independent advice.With advance planning, the twin goals of providing the best quality and preferred care for life, while still leaving a legacy, need not be mutually exclusive.