The Intermediary –- May 2026 - Flipbook - Page 27
P RO T E C T I O N
In focus
The later life
protection
conversation
L
ater life protection
is oen treated as a
niche or end of journey
consideration. In reality,
it is becoming one of the
most pressing protection
challenges advisers will face over the
coming decade.
Demand for later life care is rising,
public provision remains under
pressure, and families are increasingly
having to bridge the gap emotionally
and financially. Yet in many advice
conversations, later life can still sit in
the ‘we will deal with it later’ category,
behind mortgages, pensions and
immediate family protection.
With increased longevity
and improved diagnosis, we see
prevalence of later life conditions
such as dementia and frailty
continuing to rise.
Recent consumer research from
Vitality found that more than half
of UK adults are worried about
developing dementia, Alzheimer’s
or becoming too frail to live
independently. Despite this, only
around a third felt confident they
could afford care in later life, while
almost half admit they are not
confident they could meet costs at all.
In the future, if current trends
continue, more people will live longer
and will require ongoing support. For
advisers, this challenges traditional
assumptions about when protection
planning starts and ends.
Funding care
Cost uncertainty remains a major
barrier. For example, there are
currently 982,000 people living
with dementia in the UK, expected
to rise to 1.4 million by 2040 with
dementia care oen cited at costing
around £100,000 over the course
of the condition, according to the
Alzheimer’s Society. Despite this, most
people still expect to rely primarily
on savings, pensions or the sale of
property to fund care.
Only a small minority (6%)
anticipate insurance playing a role,
and even among those who hold
protection policies, many are unclear
whether their cover would respond to
conditions such as dementia or frailty.
For advisers, this confusion
represents both a risk and an
opportunity: a risk where expectations
are misaligned, and an opportunity to
provide clarity.
The industry gap
Much of this challenge reflects how
protection has traditionally been
designed. As a result, clients can put
appropriate protection in place in their
20s, 30s and 40s, yet still see their
cover end just as risks increase.
This creates a planning cliff edge for
protection. By the time later life risk
feels tangible, underwriting can be
harder and decisions more pressured.
Younger age groups are more likely
to see protection as something not
relevant until later life. Yet there is
clear appetite for insurance that offers
ongoing support into later life, with
more than three-quarters (77%) of
Gen Z respondents saying they would
be more likely to buy a policy that
offers this.
An industry need
There is a long-held assumption in
the protection market that later life
conditions sit largely outside the scope
of traditional cover. In practice, this
has le many people facing a gap
between the risks they recognise and
the protection they expect to have in
place as they age.
Vitality introduced Dementia and
FrailCare Cover (DFCC) in response
JUSTIN TAUROG
is CEO at VitalityLife
to that gap. The intention was not to
position later life care as a separate or
specialist solution, but to challenge
the idea that protection must stop at a
fixed age.
The aim was to allow Serious Illness
Cover taken out earlier in life to
automatically transition to DFCC at
the end of the term, without the need
for further underwriting, remaining
relevant as people live longer.
For advisers, this shows that later
life care risks do not have to sit
beyond the reach of protection, and
that clients do not necessarily face
a hard stop where cover ends.That
recognition helps support earlier,
more measured conversations.
An opportunity
Rather than representing a new
direction, this should be seen as an
opportunity to build on conversations
many of us are already having.
Raising later life considerations
earlier in a client journey can help
shi the focus from predicting
outcomes to gradually building
flexibility over time.
Clarity also maers. Taking
time to walk through how policies
operate in practice can close gaps in
understanding and support more
confident decision-making.
Overall, the fact remains: later life
care needs are rising, costs are high,
and uncertainty around later life
options is high.
Advisers have an opportunity: early
and more joined-up conversations
that help clients prepare for longer
lives, can reinforce the relevance
of protection advice for the
decades ahead. ●
May 2026 | The Intermediary
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