Financial crisis prompts more calls on care advice

Against the backdrop of a deepening financial crisis, leading independent care advisers, Grace Consulting reports more and more people are seeking help in the struggle to find elderly care solutions for themselves and their relatives.

According to charity, Counsel & Care, funding a care home is the biggest concern for older people, findings which are backed by Grace Consulting which has seen this compounded by the economic downturn and its effect on property prices:

"About 70,000 people sold their home last year to pay for care. But faced with falling prices and a lack of potential buyers, people are now having to find alternative ways of funding their care," warns Grace Consulting Managing Director, Chris Cain.

"With misconceptions and much confusion around the costs of elderly care, individuals need to make use of good quality advice," he urges. "Lack of understanding about what help is available to fund care and at what level the state will step in to help are all too common."

Many people don't know or understand how the value of their assets affects paying for care and in particular, that the situation applies differently in the case of couples. Where one of an original couple continues to reside in the family home, for example, its value will be disregarded when an assessment is made of assets.

Engage Mutual, one of the largest providers of over 50s life cover in the UK, offers free access to a level of elderly care advice from Grace Consulting to purchasers of its over 50s life cover4 direct from Engage.

The service was introduced following customer research which revealed that concerns around elderly care were top of the agenda for many of its customers:

"With a growing aging population, elderly care issues are here to stay and will potentially affect us all," cautions Engage Marketing Director, Karl Elliott. "As with many life issues, the better these events are planned for, the better we are able to cope if and when they arise."

For help and advice options on elderly care issues contact Grace Consulting on freephone: 0800 137 669. For information on the Engage Over 50s live Cover Plan, visit engagemutual.com