The Covid-19 pandemic has left millions of people considering alternative long-term care options to living in a care home, LV= has stated.
The LV= Wealth and Wellbeing Monitor – a quarterly survey of 4,000+ UK adults – sound that 60% (31.6m) of UK adults worry about moving into a care home after seeing how Covid-19 spread in them. The over-55s are most worried (65%) about moving into a care home.
Most people (61%) (32.2m) say they would rather stay in their own home and have it adapted to meet their care needs. The proportion rises to 70% among mass affluent consumers – those with assets of between £100,000 and £500,000 excluding property.
However, one in four over-65s don’t know what they’d do if they struggled to look after themselves in later life.
Meanwhile, 45% of UK homeowners would consider using a lifetime mortgage for at least one of a variety of reasons including:
- Paying for home improvements for medical/ mobility reasons (17%)
- Paying for a care worker (16%)
- Increasing retirement income (15%)
- Home repairs (15%)
- Helping children and grandchildren financially (12%)
Clive Bolton, managing director of savings and retirement at LV=, said: “People understand that their property and equity release can play an important part in securing the retirement they want. Many currently use equity release to top up their income, pay for home improvements or to provide financial support to family and friends but it will be interesting to see if the Covid pandemic leads to an increase in the use of equity release to pay for care.
“LV=’s research indicates that the pandemic has made many older people reluctant to move into a care home. Rather than moving into a care home, an increasing number may consider using equity release to pay for carers and the cost of modifying their home for medical reasons.”
