The Later Life Academy (LLA) has been established to raise standards and provide business opportunities in sectors such as equity release, annuities and long-term care.

The LLA has been launched by Stuart Wilson, managing Ppartner of advisory business, Equity Advice and the distributor, the Equity Release Club.

The focus of the Academy will be to work with both advisers and providers to ensure those active in later life advice have the requisite and ongoing learning, skills, resources and provider/product access to ensure they make the most of the business opportunities.

The Academy is also run with a full commercial focus with members able to benefit in a number of areas:

• Uplift in commissions from many product providers.
• Reduced costs on accessing the LLA learning modules and events.
• Ability to secure points to gain status of the LLA logo – a mark of quality.
• Additional support services such as an annuity placement desk, long-term care referrals, wills and estate planning training with enhanced terms.
• Regular newsletters, practice bulletins and an online download section with application forms, templates and marketing.

Joining fees start at £20 per individual for those firms with over 16 members, going up to £40 for individual associate members. All members will pay reduced fees to attend individual full or half day training on a variety of modules including an initial LLA foundation course, annuities and investments, equity release and long-term care, benefits and taxation, trusts, wills and planning, and marketing. Members will also be able to undertake an annual LLA MOT to ensure their market and product knowledge is fully up to date.

The LLA is working with providers to help develop and deliver learning modules whilst the Academy provides them full access to the membership in order to develop quality distribution, provide professional support, reward specialists and ensure members are properly equipped to operate in each product area.

Wilson said: “Looking at the potential increase in the number of people entering retirement in the years to come it is clear that demand for later life financial advice can only increase. We have launched the Later Life Academy because we feel there needs to be ‘joined up thinking’ when it comes to dealing with these clients and looking at the array of wants and needs they have.

“The Academy will help support its advisory members by keeping them up to speed with a rapidly changing product space and will help them engage with a variety of sectors and providers in order to help deliver the best level of service to their later life clients. The LLA will ensure that every member can keep pace with the market and has the necessary skills and learning, plus the product and wider sector knowledge, in order to work effectively in this market.

“Our specific aim with the Academy is to marry up both the training and learning needs of advisers active, or looking to be active, in this marketplace with an organisation also committed to their commercial needs. We want to engage and support with committed advisers who understand the need to continually learn and develop, and accept that this requires resource and investment on their part. If they can bring this attitude then the Academy is there to help raise their standards in so many areas be that market and product knowledge, regulatory understanding and wider information on other later life sectors.

“At the same time they will benefit from a huge commercial advantage via enhanced commissions, increased product sales, stronger relationships with providers and new business opportunities. This is a 360 degree proposition which covers all later life areas.”

Simon Little, managing director of Autumn Life Retirement Services, said: “With a growth in need and demand the at-retirement market is seen as a critical space for many providers and advisers to focus on. When many are talking about ideas and initiatives to help advisers improve their knowledge and experience it is pleasing to see a proposition actually being delivered that will undoubtedly add great value to this sector for those advisers looking to engage more fully with their customers. For this reason alone the Later Life Academy deserves to succeed.”

The LLA will also work with a number of provider Ambassadors who will be able to access, support, train and develop members with their learning and commercial product awareness. Ambassadors are able to attend as many modules and Academy events as they like and will also offer non-product related modules in areas such as marketing, trusts, wills and estate planning.

The LLA has announced that the first Later Life Academy Ambassador is Skandia. Robert Champion, its retirement product lead, said: “We’re delighted to have signed up as the first ambassadors of the Later Life Academy. Management of the wealth of those either in, or approaching retirement, is an increasingly complex area and one where advisers can certainly add value for the consumer. As Ambassadors we are looking forward to helping advisers demonstrate their value by assisting with the delivery of training, tools and support which will ultimately improve consumer outcomes.”