Lifetime Care Plan

Regular monthly payments to help your client pay their care fees

One of the biggest challenges of funding for care is uncertainty around how long someone will live for and whether they go into a care home or require care in their own home. We also acknowledge that care fees can be very costly. So what does this mean in terms of risk?

If you underestimate how long someone will live, they could run out of money and be left without the care they want and need.

It’s impossible to know how long someone may live in a care home but there are statistics on life expectancy and average stays in a care home, which should be considered when putting a financial plan in place.

This creates uncertainty. It's difficult to predict how long someone might spend in a care home and the impact of a long stay can be financially devastating.

What is a Lifetime Care Plan (LCP)?

Our Lifetime Care Plan provides a guaranteed monthly payment for life to help pay for your client's care fees; which can mitigate the risk of ongoing care home fees eroding your client's assets, providing security and peace of mind to your client and their family.

The plan doesn't guarantee to cover the entire cost of care and your client's care costs may increase over time. Your client is responsible for funding any shortfall and may need to fund their additional care costs from other sources.

Reasons to recommend

Mitigate the risk of ongoing care home fees eroding your client's assets

Provide security and peace of mind for your client and their family

Your client will have free access to Care Concierge, a telephone guidance service

Key documents

Product

Sales aids

Frequently asked questions

A Lifetime Care Plan may be suitable for clients who:

Are aged 60 and over when they apply.
Are currently receiving care, or will need care when the plan starts, which is expected to be permanent until they die.
Want a regular payment for life to help meet care costs.
Have/will have care provided by a UK registered care provider and care is provided in their own home or in a care home.

If your client no longer requires care, or becomes eligible for state benefits, they can’t cancel their plan and the monthly payments will be made directly to them.

Your client can choose either a fixed payment that does not change throughout the duration of the plan, or a payment that increases each year:

by a fixed percentage – anything up to and including 8% (in whole numbers); or
in line with the Retail Price Index (RPI). If your client selects this option, they'll be unable to select the Additional Premium Protection option (see death benefits below).

Any payments we make directly to your client or anyone other than a UK registered care provider are subject to income tax.

The care provider may continue to charge fees even after your client dies but the payments from us will stop from the date of their death.

Receiving payments from a Lifetime Care Plan may affect your client’s ability to claim for means-tested state benefits.

Our Lifetime Care Plan offers the following death benefits:

Guaranteed Premium Protection: This benefit is automatically included in your client's plan. It means that if they die within the first six months of the plan, we’ll pay their estate a percentage of their original premium less any payments we’ve already made.
Additional Premium Protection: Your client can choose to protect a percentage of their original premium for more than the first six months of their plan. When they die we'll pay their estate the percentage they've protected, less any payments we've already made.

The total amount of monthly payments we make, plus any payment we make to your client's estate from the Guaranteed Premium Protection or Additional Premium Protection, may be less than the original premium paid for the plan.

The details of the Guaranteed Premium Protection and Additional Premium Protection can be found in the Lifetime Care Plan Key Features PDFsize:1.5MB.

Need help?

You can contact our services teams to help you with your query.

Case studies

Livia case study

This case study looks at how a Lifetime Care Plan can help Livia fund her care.

Mary case study

This case study looks at how a Lifetime Care Plan can help Mary fund her care.