Minority report

Below is an extract from a recent byline by Linstock Consultant Tony Cox in Money Marketing’s Retirement Strategy. To read the article in full click here. 

Minority report

Going gaga, losing your marbles, not being able to look after yourself into old age. Things most of us would rather forget when considering our social and financial future. And as research last year by AIFA and Prudential showed, financial advisers and their clients seem reluctant to discuss these issues.

But the current and predicted demographic changes to the UK population mean we must tackle the issue of how we look after ourselves in later life.

The number of people in the UK aged 65 and over will grow to 23 per cent by 2034. The impact of these demographic changes on the long term care sector, including product providers, advisers and care home owners, will be profound.

The Dilnot Commission is expected to report in July and is likely to make wide ranging recommendations for changes to how we fund long term care.

The danger is that one significant demographic issue – ethnicity – could get lost in the desire to address the needs of all.

The UK's Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) population is growing even faster than the wider population.  BME groups totalled 8.7% of the UK’s population in 2001 and the latest census, which Linstock has helped promote, is expected to show a big rise.

Unless policy makers consider issues specific to the BME population as they explore the future of long term care, the very real danger is that the UK’s rapidly growing minority ethnic groups will be left facing a social care system that does not understand them and is ill-prepared to provide for them. Commercial opportunities will be lost and social justice will suffer. 

To explore these issues, Linstock carried out research into the views of ethnic minorities on long term care.

Our research reveals that BME groups’ attitudes to caring for family, and perceptions of social care, differ considerably from the mainstream views held by the white British population.

The research reveals that the stigma attached to placing relatives in social care amongst these BME communities is unlikely to erode at the same rate as the traditional family model. This will create a gap in the ability of BME communities across Britain to provide or access appropriate care.  This presents a challenge for social policy, a market for care home providers and an extra consideration for advisers who are working with clients from ethnic minorities.

Language is also considered a big problem, as many elderly BME citizens may have only a small grasp of English, or, quite simply, may just prefer to communicate in their mother tongue. There is both a commercial and moral imperative for the industry to engage with these communities, perhaps through their own networks, newspapers, TV and internet forums, in order to address these issues.

Three things need to happen. First, policy makers need to seek advice from BME groups and those who work with them to understand their particular needs. Second, the long term care sector needs to understand the way in which they are perceived by ethnic minority groups in order that they can improve the sensitivity of their services and product offerings. Finally the industry needs to consider how it can better communicate with BME communities in order to break down the stigma that exists about the services that it provides.

So what is the message for financial advisers and the wider finance industry? First, you should look to develop and expand your offering to ethnic minority backgrounds to take advantage of this rapidly growing sector. Second, as the AIFA/Prudential report recommended future requirements such as long term care, should be signposted as part of defining and implementing a specific at retirement proposition.

It’s an opportunity that the industry would be gaga to ignore.

Tony Cox
Consultant at Linstock Communications