"Funding long-term care is one of the most complex and emotionally challenging conversations and financial decisions many families will face."
- Claire Kelly - British Friendly
British Friendly has announced the launch of its new lifetime care plan, an immediate needs annuity designed to help advisers support clients in funding long-term care.
The launch follows rising demand for later-life financial planning solutions. One in four people in the UK are projected to be aged 65 or over by 2050, meaning that the demand for long-term care support is set to become significantly higher over the coming decades.
At the same time, the gap between life expectancy and healthy life expectancy is widening, with people living longer but spending more of those years in poor health. As a result, care needs are becoming more complex and lasting longer. In 2023, just under 50% of older residents were self-funders, compared to only around 2% of younger adults.
British Friendly says that the new proposition provides guaranteed monthly care payments for life, paid directly to UK-registered care providers. The plan is aimed at self-funding clients who are UK residents aged 60 and over with an immediate or imminent need for care.
Key features include immediate or deferred start options with deferred periods available from one to five years, and level, fixed-escalating or RPI-linked payment options, as well as the ability to split care payments between two UK-registered care providers.
Short-term capital protection is included as standard unless opted out, and there is an optional long-term capital protection allowing up to 75% of the original premium to be protected for the client’s estate. The plan also features an option to remove capital protection entirely.
The lifetime care plan is only available through authorised advisers holding an appropriate long-term care qualification, including CF8 or Cert LTCP.
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"Funding long-term care is one of the most complex and emotionally challenging conversations and financial decisions many families will face," Claire Kelly, proposition & marketing director at British Friendly, said.
"The lifetime care plan has been developed to help advisers bring greater certainty and reassurance to these discussions, while building on the awareness already present in the market and encouraging earlier planning.
"The addition of this proposition strengthens the diversity of our product range, addressing a growing and often underserved consumer need with an innovative solution that complements both our existing income protection offering and our mutual ethos.
"By delivering guaranteed payments directly to care providers, the plan enables advisers to help clients secure dignity, stability and peace of mind at a time when financial certainty matters most. At the same time, its flexibility allows advisers to tailor solutions around wider financial planning, estate considerations and individual family needs," Claire explained.
"Fear of care costs still stops far too many people planning properly for retirement, often preventing them from fully enjoying those years," Jane Finnerty, chair of SOLLA Jt., added.
"Advisers play a crucial role in discussing care‑cost risks and funding options that can bring real peace of mind. SOLLA’s aim is to ensure clients can find advisers with this specialist expertise.
"British Friendly’s welcome entry into the care‑funding market will help raise public awareness and strengthen the focus on care advice as an essential part of the retirement in later‑life journey."
Nicky Cave, managing director at Eldercare Group, commented: "We have been delighted to watch the development of British Friendly’s lifetime care plan over the last few months, and we are excited to be able to start making this available to our clients. British Friendly has been really receptive to all our feedback regarding essential product features in the run-up to this launch.
"As a specialist care funding advisory firm, we welcome more options for the families that we speak to and with British Friendly becoming the fifth provider now in the market, this healthy competition can only be beneficial to our clients.
"For advisers who don’t hold the relevant qualification and expertise, they can still make the care fees annuity solution available to their clients by referring to a specialist such as ourselves."
