Finding the right solution that best suits your needs can be a difficult journey when it comes to adult social care. It’s a complicated and detailed process to find the best fit for you and your family, with further work needed to research your options when it comes to paying for care.
Steven Day is a financial adviser at Switchfoot Wealth, specialising in long term care and later life planning. He shares his thoughts on the importance of process when it comes to finding the best solutions for clients in need of adult social care.
“I’ve always been passionate about personal finance and supporting people to achieve their life goals, and at Switchfoot Wealth we have a clear focus on supporting clients with vulnerabilities and those who represent them. As a member of the Society of Later Life Advisers (SOLLA), we’re committed to offering independent advice based on up-to-date knowledge and a thorough process to deliver what matters most for our clients.
The first step is to work with trusted partners who are equally dedicated to following a set process, crossing every ‘t’ and dotting every ‘i’ to make sure that clients receive the best solutions for their requirements, whatever their situation.
Trusted partners like Richard Johnson at RJ Advocacy, who takes the time to get to know his clients and their individual circumstances, helping them towards the care solution that’s best tailored to their needs.
He helps them to understand the complex care systems, offering non-regulated advice across the breadth of adult social care, from NHS continuing healthcare, care homes, domiciliary care and assisted living, to care funding and safeguarding.
Details here are crucial as he discusses assets and liabilities, state benefits, wills and lasting power of attorneys, completing referral forms for those who are self-funding, and communicating directly with financial advice providers like us to take it all forward with the next crucial steps.
The importance of a detailed process doesn’t stop there. When working with clients, we firstly confirm that the client is indeed considered a self-funder, above the capital threshold limit of £23,500, and assess if there’s an income shortfall when it comes to paying for care. We examine additional sources of income such as any state benefits which may be available, as well as completing a short medical questionnaire with each and every client.
This is used to gather quotes for an immediate needs annuity, which can provide a guaranteed income for our clients to pay for the ongoing costs of care. It can cover the shortfall between their existing income and the cost of care for the rest of their lives, providing an invaluable peace of mind in a system which can often be so stressful.
The most important part in the process for us is to create for our clients a projection of paying for care and a comparison of the options available. Paying as they go by drawing on their assets over time to meet the ongoing shortfall, or the more insured approach, using their assets to buy an immediate needs annuity for that much-sought peace of mind.
It can be a very complicated process to work through all the details step by step through the journey, and it’s why there are professionals who are here on hand to help. Experts like Richard Johnson at RJ Advocacy, providing advocacy and mediation support to find the best solutions when it comes to adult social care. And financial advisers, like ourselves at Switchfoot Wealth, committed to offering a tailored approach to ensuring those solutions are affordable for all.”