Partnership has outlined a minimum level of qualification for advisers engaging in long term care advice and is hopeful this will be enshrined in law.
In its response to the Joint Committee on the Draft Care and Support Bill's call for evidence the provider said: "We believe that local authorities should be required to refer self-funders to appropriately qualified specialist care fees advice to ensure that they do not deplete their funds and end up falling back on the state. In the long term this would save local authorities money at a time when they are facing significant cuts to their budgets."
It defined "specialist care fees planning advice" as advice on the planning and funding of care provided by an independent financial adviser who holds:
(a) the CF8 qualification awarded by the Chartered Insurance Institute; or
(b) such other comparable qualification in respect of care fees planning as the Secretary of State may be order provide."
Jim Boyd, director of corporate affairs at Partnership, commented: "This is a significant opportunity to ensure that financial advice is explicitly included in the draft Bill and Act.
"There is a general awareness amongst members of the draft committee and also the Department of Health that there is a need for financial advice. By making this explicit in the act this ensures that a fundamental element of the whole care debate is addressed, which is to make sure that the funding element is considered.
"If included, for the first time, everybody will have to get appropriate financial advice. This would be fantastic for the consumer and fantastic for the highly qualified financial adviser.
"It would be a lost opportunity for this fundamental plank if this was not included in the Bill."
