Government Should Raise Awareness of Equity Releae Schemes According to Trade Body

The government should be raising awareness of equity release plans as a way for older people to pay for domiciliary care, according to one industry organisation.

Equity release products such as reversion plans can ease the burden of paying for social care, SHIP, the equity release trade body has said.

The comments follow the publication of a government white paper on elderly social care, which proposes limiting the number of years that elderly people will need to pay for social care to just two.

Andrea Rozario, director general of SHIP, said: "With an ageing population and pensions failing to cover the costs of elderly social care, it is a problem that does, and will affect us all and needs to be addressed urgently.

"Between them the country’s over-65s currently share £907 billion worth of equity in their homes, yet some of these will be unaware that equity release could be used to fund domiciliary care."

People who are unaware of how an equity release scheme could boost their finances could find out how much money they could release by contacting a reputable Equity Release Provider.