If you are funding your Home Care yourself, there are various ways you can do this. Here we will cover the most likely options:

Personal income, savings, and/or investments:

• If you have sufficient income, and/or savings or investments this is an option that may suit you and your family. In the case of savings, with interest rates being very low at present your money won’t be growing significantly.

  Equity release

• Increasingly, and more accurately known as ‘Lifetime Mortgages’. This is where major insurance companies including Aviva and Legal & General lend cash, which can be used for any purpose including the funding of 24/7 live-in care, secured against the value of your home. The annual interest on the loan can either be serviced every year annually (simple interest) from the capital borrowed or from other sources, or allowed to roll up (compound interest). In the case of the former, the original loan, or in the case of the latter, the original loan plus the interest on it, is settled up by your estate at the end of your life, or both your lives, which will reduce the value of your estate for the purposes of inheritance tax (IHT). Whilst you and your spouse are guaranteed to stay in the home for the whole of your lives, the roll up of higher interest rates in the past has sometimes meant the home was ‘lost’ to the next generation. This is less likely to happen now that typical annual interest rates are down to 2.5% on average, and the option to service the debt every year has now been mandated by the FCA. (source: the live-in care hub).

  Annuity

  You could purchase an annuity which is a form of an insurance policy based on an actuarial calculation of your life expectancy that provides a consistent income in exchange for an upfront lump sum investment. When they are used for long-term live-in care, they provide a fixed income for life to fund care costs. A key point with annuities is to select the right product so that you are likely, at the very least, to get back in income the capital used to buy the annuity in the first place.

  The following organisations have a broad range of funding options that may be available to you.

• Responsible Life https://www.responsiblelife.co.uk/ which has a broad range of funding options available to you. This link will take you directly to a page with further information on Equity Release with Frequently Asked Questions answered by Responsible Life and also to their Equity Release calculator.

• Symponia https://symponia.co.uk is a professional body representing over 120 financial and legal advisors who are all specialists in the area of financing private care fees. They can help you with funding long-term care at home so you can have peace of mind and reassurance that you are receiving the very best advice.

  There are also other ways to utilise some of the value of your home too, which may include downsizing and using the spare capital to fund your care. Alternatively, make an arrangement with your family to provide the capital that you need. You can also approach your bank for a secured loan against your assets.

  The choices you make to fund live-in care are entirely individual to you, your family, and your circumstances. Many people may have more than one option to fund their care. We would strongly advise discussing your and your family’s circumstances with a trained and authorised independent adviser (IFA) authorised by the FCA to provide financial advice. Make sure you choose someone who is qualified to offer this advice and isn’t looking to sell you a specific product or service.

  Legal considerations

  In conjunction with sourcing advice about funding care, a person needing care who is considered to have the mental capacity should have all of the legal aspects of their affairs in order, an example of this could be a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) in place with trusted members of your family, and an up-to-date Will so that all of their future wishes about their care and finances are documented and carried out with the necessary advanced planning.

  If you are planning to finance your situation, please take a look at these additional sources of information that may help and offer some additional guidance:

  UK Government: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/care-and-support-whats-changing/care-and-support-whats-changing

  https://www.gov.uk/browse/benefits/disability

  Age UK – Paying for Care: https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/care/paying-for-care/

  The Money Advice Service – Paying for Care: https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/categories/paying-for-care

  Society of Later Life Advisers: https://societyoflaterlifeadvisers.co.uk

  Which? – Financing Care: https://www.which.co.uk/later-life-care/financing-care

  Responsible Equity Release: https://www.responsibleequityrelease.co.uk