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Can equity release help older home-owners improve their quality of life?
- Authors:
- TERRY Rachel, GIBSON Richard
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 15p.
- Place of publication:
- York
Around a million older home-owners have £100,000, or more, of housing equity, yet they can’t afford the practical help they need to enjoy a good quality of life at home. This document outlines how the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has been working with local authorities, the equity release industry, voluntary bodies and relevant government departments to develop equity release packages that help older people access funds without threatening their entitlement to benefits. Three local authorities (the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Maidstone Borough Council, and the London Borough of Islington) are now piloting these equity release schemes, independently assessed by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and are expected to run until summer 2011.
Affording help at home
- Authors:
- TERRY Rachel, GIBSON Richard
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Care Services Management, 6(1), 2012, pp.26-34.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Drawing on the findings from 3 pilot schemes providing advice for older homeowners about how best to afford the help they wanted to enable them to stay in their home, this article looks at the challenges for local authorities when seeking to help low income older homeowners in this way. It identifies 5 main ways in which such homeowners may be able to raise money to pay for additional help at home: drawing on savings, practical and financial help from family and friends, claiming benefits, trading down by selling their present home and buying a cheaper one, and using equity release. The article notes that equity release may be an appropriate and realistic solution for some people but is little used. It considers equity release and barriers to its use, and outlines the development of an equity release product (Home Cash Plan) suitable for low income older homeowners for use in the pilot schemes (which took place in Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, and Maidstone, and were supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation). It reviews experience and lessons from the pilot schemes, including issues for local authorities, engaging partner organisations locally, staff training, raising awareness, staff engagement, protecting the interests of older homeowners, low take-up, the perception of equity release, and reluctance of some staff to mention equity release. It also reports that following a study of the equity release market, Age UK Enterprises launched an Equity Release Advice Service for older homeowners in November 2010.