Les Pick, director of manufacturing and adviser propositions, more2life, comments on the Equity Release Council’s Later Life Lending: Great Expectations report

• To read the report click here
• To read the Council’s positioning paper click here

While we saw a record £6.2 billion worth of equity released in 2022, this is only a tiny proportion of the financial support that older homeowners have access to.

It is vitally important that we ask ourselves how we can better empower people to look to their greatest asset for support and today’s ‘Great Expectations’ Report starts to ask those hard questions.

We need to build on existing flexibilities, question long-held beliefs and be prepared to consider whether more automation, wider ranging qualifications, and a focus on educating customers as well as the wider advice sector can pay dividends.

Each customer’s needs are unique but helping them to support their wider families, receive care at home, boost their retirement income, make their homes more energy efficient and better manage their borrowing has wider societal benefits.

Change is never easy but this report contains a clear view of areas where if we gain buy-in and engagement, we can support more customers with good outcomes.