Financial Review

Research commissioned by NFU Mutual revealed that one million family homes were sold in five years to fund care costs; a cycle which is likely to be repeated every five years based on average life expectancy. In addition, records amounts of money are being taken through equity release to fund retirement plans and pay care bills. Three in every four people whose parents go into care see most of their inheritance eaten up by associated costs.

There is concern about the housing market. While nearly two-thirds of households own their house, home ownership – the principal means by which asset-based wealth for the majority of citizens can pass between generations – is in decline with the home ownership rate among 25-year-olds having halved over 20 years.

We have directed the wealth in family homes to projects that enable older people and their families to plan and manage their finances differently by downsizing to purpose built accommodation in total care developments to release funds to pay for care and a quality of life while retaining home ownership and a future inheritance.

An inheritance provides the means for the next generation to achieve home ownership and asset based wealth and the means to fund care and a quality of life in later years.

The model is in contrast to selling a family home to pay care home fees to the end of life without knowing life expectancy and the final cost.

In addition to providing a solution for future generations to achieve home ownership our proposals open the door to the largest investment in specialised housing with care in the UK releasing existing properties onto the market, providing work for the construction industry, creating jobs and apprenticeships, business for mortgage providers and with considerable savings for savings for individuals, families, the NHS and local authorities at no cost to public finances.