Jacqueline Berry, director of My Care Consultant, talks about her firm and the issues affecting it.
Jacqueline established My Care Consultant in 2016 as an independent care navigator service, supporting carers and those in need of care with the complexities of the UK care system.
The need for quality care advice has increased over time and, more than ever, there’s a requirement for pro-active support, both for consumers and for financial advice firms to be able to support their vulnerable clients, in line with Consumer Duty regulations.
What are the challenges with the UK care system that My Care Consultant seeks to address?
One of the biggest challenges for consumers is having to navigate the plethora of complex rules and processes of the UK care systems, when most have no prior experience of doing so, or access to a trusted safe space of independent support. This has meant that navigating the system and accessing appropriate practical and financial support has often been impossible for those in need of care and for the carers working hard to support them. It’s a situation that’s been described as a ‘drunken walk,’ with many people in need of care or their family members staggering from one source of misinformation to the next, often resulting in financial as well as emotional and psychological harm.
1.4 million older people do not have access to the care and support they need, and between 2007 and 2032, the number of people aged 65 and over who will receive unpaid care is projected to have grown by more than one million. So, providing support for unpaid carers, as well as the equipment and facilities for older people in need of care, has never been more important.
There seems to be a real focus on the need to support carers as much as those in need of care, why is that?
Currently the care systems across the UK are propped up by unpaid carers who, more often than not, are family members. According to Carers UK, there are currently over 13 million unpaid carers in the UK, many of whom are juggling work with caring. When you combine the scale of this, with the inadequate state and local authority funding and provision, this is causing significant problems in terms of burn out and mental health issues, as well as sector specific issues such as ‘care v career’.
The average person has a 50% chance of caring for an older adult by age 50, and they currently battle their way through a barrage of services, systems, agencies, tests and charging regimes that seem designed to deter demand until needs become extreme. Approximately 600 people per day unfortunately resign from work because of a lack of support in juggling the balance of work and care.
A recent House of Commons report by their Adult Social Care Committee entitled: ‘A gloriously ordinary life, spotlight on adult social care’ found that easily accessible information and advice all in one place was the top priority for unpaid carers, according to The Care Policy and Evaluation Centre at LSE based on the carers they interviewed.
How does this impact financial advisers, particularly those in the later life market?
Given the average adult has 50% chance of caring for an older adult, it’s clear that carers and those in need of care, will together make up the largest group of vulnerable clients within an adviser’s customer base, whether they’re aware of it or not.
The recently introduced Vulnerability and Consumer Duty regulations from the FCA are a huge focus for everyone in the financial service space. And it’s essential that advisers provide their vulnerable clients who are carers or in need of care, with easy access to the information they need, at the right time, in a clear and simple way that can be easily understood.
There’s a responsibility to demonstrate client understanding with adapted services and communications for those in vulnerable circumstances and with enhanced needs. Holistic and joined up care advice is therefore essential to adhere to the cross-cutting rules, avoiding foreseeable harm and enabling customers to pursue their financial objectives, whatever their circumstance.
What support does My Care Consultant provide?
My Care Consultant works closely with financial advisers, supporting with the non-regulated aspects of care advice. From identifying suitable care, to establishing eligibility for funding support, it helps clients navigate the many organisations and services of different standards and quality, and provides solutions to the many issues people in need of care and their families or legal representatives can face.
We offer a unique and independent service, with a practical understanding of financial services regulation, a detailed knowledge of care regulations across all 4 UK care systems, and many years ‘on the ground’ experience of day-to-day practices involved.
We’re continually developing new ways to effectively assist financial advisers in supporting their clients through their care journeys, and our latest innovation is the creation of the much anticipated, My Care Hub. This is a unique digital inhouse care navigation service for financial advice firms to use with their clients, prospects and family members who themselves are either carers or in need of care.
What are the benefits of My Care Hub, and when will clients of advice firms have access to this new service?
My Care Hub will be an independent ‘one-stop-shop’ for care advice, supporting advisers with their approach to Vulnerability and Consumer Duty, and supporting their clients with much-needed information and guidance, whether they’re providing care for someone else or in need of care themselves. My Care Hub is designed to support clients right from the start of their journey, from before they’ve physically become a carer, to helping with all their planning needs when a care need arises, through to end of life.
For advisers, it will simplify their responsibilities, providing an automatic care referral system acting as an invaluable time-saving and risk management tool, with the added functionality of MI to help firms log client outcomes.
Clients will have 24/7 access to online information and guidance, guides, calculators and checklists, as well as 1:1 support from the expert care advisers at My Care Consultant, and qualified signposting to additional related professional services such as legal advice and property management support.
We’re working hard to create this new tool which will be invaluable when it comes to navigating the 4 UK care systems, and it will be available to advisers on its launch in early 2024.
How can the My Care Hub benefit advisers as part of holistic advice?
In the recent House of Lords’ Adult Social Care Committee report, the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre at LSE identified the need for a ‘one-stop-shop or single point of contact, which should not only give information and signpost to other services, but offer help and support where possible.’
The complexity of our care systems is a problem that’s reached the highest levels of recognition across the UK, and the creation of My Care Hub is our commitment in response to a clear need within society that will work towards a much-needed resolution.
The need for care is something that will affect us all at some point in our lives, whether caring for another, or needing care ourselves. It’s something which must be addressed as part of wider financial advice and any firm’s approach to vulnerability and consumer duty, irrespective of their specialism.
- The views of contributors are not necessarily shared by the Council
