Headed by Jacqueline Berry, founding director of Care Funding Partnership and former Key Account Manager at Partnership, the new service will take on the bulk of front end work for advisers by generating leads, undertaking the initial consultation and conducting a whole of market review based on the client’s individual needs - including an approximate cost. If the client then wants to know more about a particular product, MCC will direct them to one of the advisers on their nationwide panel who will guide them through the process.
Average care home fees in the UK are now almost £30,000 a year and of the 130,000 entering care each year, around 25% of self-funders will run out of money.
The Care Act, introduced in April 2015, instructed local councils to signpost people to ‘information and advice’ on how to access care (including how to fund it). Despite this, only 6% of people going into care take financial advice before doing so.
Jacqueline Berry, Founding Director of My Care Consultant, said:
“Even with the clear opportunity that an aging demographic provides for financial advisers, very few are qualified to give advice on long term care funding products. At MCC we view financial planning as an on-going process and aim to support customers and their families to make sensible, informed decisions about money and develop strategies to meet their needs. By taking on the initial exploratory and relationship development we are able to deliver to IFAs a potential pipeline of qualified prospects who are highly likely to convert.”
