Faster Clarity Calmer Conversations

Eligibility

To take out a Lifetime Care Plan, your client must meet our eligibility criteria:

• Be at least 60 years old and a UK resident.
• Have an immediate or imminent need for care. This means they are already receiving long-term care or expect to need it soon.
• Require a care funding plan on a single-life basis only. The Plan is designed to support the care needs of one person.
• Have a minimum single premium of £5,000.
• Apply as the person requiring care or through a legal representative. The Plan must be purchased using their own funds by them or someone legally authorised to act on their behalf.

Suitability

In our Product Profile we have a number of illustrative examples of profiles where the Lifetime Care Plan may be considered appropriate, subject to a full suitability assessment and advice process. Read more, here. 

Cooling off period

Your client has 30 days to change their mind - this starts from the date they receive our confirmation that their Lifetime Care Plan has started. After 30 days has passed, they will not be able to change these options or cancel their Plan.

Read more in our Key Facts Document, here. 

Choosing when care payments begin

• Immediate Start: Care payments begin as soon as the Plan is set up.
• Deferred Start: Allows your client to defer the start of their care payments by a chosen period of 1 to 5 years. Your client must have alternative funding available to cover the deferred period.
  
  

Who receives the care payments?

To ensure care payments remain tax-free under current UK rules, we normally pay the UK-registered care provider directly. 

• Multiple Providers: We can split the care payment between up to two different UK-registered care providers.
• Care payments to the client: If the client stops receiving care from a UK-registered care provider, moves overseas, or if their care payments exceed their care costs, we may pay the care payments to your client or their Legal Representative directly.
• Tax rules and personal circumstances may change in the future. Any care payments made directly to your client (or anyone other than a UK-registered care provider) will be subject to Income Tax. 

Lifetime Care Quote and Application process

To provide an accurate, fully underwritten quote for our Lifetime Care Plan, we partner with Inuvi to collect the required medical and care data on our behalf. Full details on the application process can be found below:

Managing the cost of care

To ensure care funding keeps pace with actual care fees, we have the following options available: 

• Stay the same (Level): Your clients care payments will stay at the same amount for the rest of their life.
• Increase by a fixed percentage: Your clients care payments will go up each year by a set percentage (between 1% and 10%)
• Increase in line with inflation: Your clients care payments will go up each year in line with the cost of living, measured by the Retail Prices Index (RPI). 
  
  

Protecting your client’s single premium (Capital Protection) 

Capital protection aims to provide your client’s estate with a refund of part of their single premium if they die early in the Plan. 

• Short-term Protection: This is included as standard unless your client opts out. If they die within the first six months, we may return part of their single premium, minus any care payments already made.
• Long-term Protection: This is an optional feature your client can add to their Plan for an extra cost. It allows them to protect a specific percentage of their single premium (between 1% and 75%) minus any care payments already made. This provides protection for longer than the initial six-month short-term period (please note this is not available for deferred start date or RPI plans).