What are the chances of caring being prevalent within your client bank?
It is believed that up to 13 million people in the UK currently have unpaid carer responsibilities.
According to national charity Carers UK, on average there is a 50 % chance of caring for an older adult by the time we get to age 50. By the time women reach age 46, on average half have already become carers of an older adult. The same percentage applies to men, but for this cohort by the age of 57, some 11 years later.
Based on these and other similar research-based statistics, it’ s reasonable to project that, for many advice firms, unpaid carers may well be the biggest group of those in vulnerable circumstances within their client banks. This in turn raises the question – do they know who they are?
Identifying unpaid carers
Whilst there are many common signs of caring for an older adult, including signs of physical and mental strain( examples of this could be a lack of personal care, a change in appearance, tiredness, fluctuating emotions), as with many other aspects of vulnerability, there is often no substitute for firms going directly to their clients in an attempt to identity their circumstances. This can be done through client surveys or communications designed to raise awareness around the extent of unpaid care, the impact it can have on financial and overall wellbeing and specifically how financial advice firms can help.
Providing much needed support
Raising awareness and identifying additional needs linked to the vulnerable circumstance of caring is, of course, only the first step. The next is to deliver or signpost to services that can offer significant support, either practical or financial, whether that is via specialist third parties or offered in-house.
Perhaps a good starting point is to ensure your firm offers or signposts to regulated paying for care advice – most unpaid care ends when the care needed by the older adult escalates to a level that can no longer be provided by the unpaid carer. At this point, often a time of stress and sometimes crisis, will the unpaid carer immediately think of their financial adviser as a source of support?
• Help with planning for the future, including Advanced Care Planning, Living Wills, and Advanced Statements, all of which may apply to all clients, not just those who are caring or in need of care.
• Help with making decisions on behalf of another, including becoming an Appointee, an Attorney or Deputy – again considerations for most clients.
• The range of practical and financial support available for unpaid carers and how to access it.
• Practical and financial support for those in need of care, including eligibility for local authority and / or NHS funding as well as finding suitable care either from home-care services or residential care
• Help in understanding the importance of related financial, legal and property management services.
It’ s for these reasons we’ ve launched My Care Hub – the UK’ s first online‘ one-stop-shop’ for care advice for use by clients of financial advice firms to guide them along their care journey. I would argue that those firms who provide a comprehensive service in respect of the above, either in-house or outsourced, will be well placed to meet the needs of the largest cohort of their clients who are in vulnerable circumstances – those who are unpaid carers and those in need of care.
Raising awareness and communicating the availability of information, guidance and advice is also much more likely to result in self-disclosure of vulnerable circumstances and proactive engagement with the advice firm. It will also demonstrate to the regulator that a firm is taking practical actions to identify and meet the ever-changing needs of their more vulnerable clients, including the avoidance of many aspects of foreseeable harm.
If this article strikes a chord, contact us at ask @ mycareconsultant. co. uk to find out how we may be able to help further.
In addition, and arguably more important, is information, guidance, and advice in respect of the non-regulated aspects of care advice needed by most families long before paying for care advice is sought, including amongst many other things:
26 | The Adviser