Advisers are lacking faith in the coalition's ability to bridge the funding gap for the UK's elderly, Symponia has revealed.
The trade body's research, The Big Fat Care Fees Planning Survey revealed 59% of advisers agreed with a statement that the care cap was ‘a token gesture that would not help many people as it had been set too high'.
Meanwhile, 20% agreed that ‘the only way to solve the crisis of elderly care in Britain is for people to take charge of their own destiny, saying "self-funding is the way forward."
Just 4% of advisers pledged their outright support of the cap, which is set at £72,000 and will come in during 2016.
In its recent Care Bill, the coalition pledged to provide specific advice on how to access independent financial advice.
When asked if care fees planning was "the future for financial advisers due to an aging population and an increase in dementia", 88% of respondents agreed, 10% disagreed and 2% were unsure.
Despite these demographics, the majority of advisers (78%) revealed care fees accounted for less than 50% of their total business.
Yet when asked if they would like to see more financial advisers specialising in elderly care, half (51%) of respondents said yes, they would welcome more specialist advisers, while 45% disagreed and 4% were unsure.
Janet Davies said: "This isn't about advisers protecting their own patch and not wanting to share. It is about protecting clients.
"Working with vulnerable families at a time of crisis is very challenging and Symponia members are very aware of this. Long term care is simply not for everyone. To advisers ready to step up to the plate, I would say, knuckle down and dig deep into this immensely complex but equally rewarding subject. But if advisers think it isn't for them, it probably isn't, so be prepared to refer clients to specialist colleagues."
