As the Care and Support Bill prepares for the House of Lords, Paul Robertson meets Partnership mananging director Chris Horlick for an update.
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“That is referring to general financial advice, it is not about people buying products to fund their care, it is about a range of things. These include: have you a will; have you sorted a power of attorney; and have you got all the means tested benefits you are entitled to?
“Everyone needs this advice, but self-funders need something extra, which is regulated financial advice. I do not see information and advice as the same thing. The difference will come in the definitions.”
Of course there is another fine line; if an adviser finds themselves talking about something other than very generic information. Is there a fine line between advice and information in the adviser’s office?
“This comes from discussions over whether things come under ICOB or COB. It’s slightly technical and clearly we need advice from the regulator on this, but it should be reasonably got.
“But, provided advisers follow a procedure, do a suitable fact find and offer suitable products if needed, then they should be fine. Any background information they offer would be additional, which is great.”
The referral system
As the Bill stands the councils will refer customers to advisers as they identify their needs. This will be done by the local councils as they do this already, the care needs assessment identifies needs to be met and the means test then identifies self-funders.
The problem has been raised that not all self-funders are realistically best served by an IFA and not all parties are keen on across the board referrals, which of course brings up the problem of who will decide. Councils currently have no system in place.
“This is a conundrum and is why these meeting are useful,” said Horlick. “Should all self-funders be funnelled towards regulated advice? Is there a different way of sifting them? Should all those above a threshold of assets be pointed towards regulated advice?
“In my view, given that the initial consultation with the majority of advisers in this sector is free of charge, there is nothing lost in all people identified as self-funders being referred to regulated advice.
“There should be no compulsion on anyone to go beyond this free first stage or indeed to buy a product. But unless people are made aware of what is available there is a disastrous set of consequences, which is people running out of money and falling back on the state.”
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