- New digital portal replaces ageing and inefficient paper process.
- Advisers can submit a single application to obtain quotes.
- Portal sponsored by JUST, Legal & General and National Friendly.
- Digital Portal replaces cumbersome form filling.
- Tele-interview with care providers reduces need for GPR’s.
- Portal is free to use for UK financial advisers.
Care Fees Plans, also called Immediate Needs Annuities provide financial certainty for people who are entering long-term care. As the population ages, this market is expected to grow exponentially.
In February 2020, Legal & General announced its entry to the market. MorganAsh worked with Legal & General to replace paper forms which have to be posted back and forth. The replacement – a combination of digital portal and tele-interviews with care providers – has already shown to be a great success, providing quality information in short turnaround times.
Advisers have been frustrated with having to complete and submit multiple application forms to different Providers. This single process enables Advisers to submit one application which is submitted to all Providers who use the portal.
MorganAsh collect the medical data from several sources, and then submit this to the insurance Providers for quotation. Advisers can now track the progress of cases in real time on the portal.
Obtaining a General Practitioner’s Report (GPR), which can take some time, has traditionally been the cornerstone of the Immediate Needs Annuity quotation process. This new service reduces the proportion of cases that need a GPR dramatically. This reduction of demand for GPR’s is clearly very timely considering the present crisis and will reduce the turnaround time from months to weeks.
The service is free for UK financial advisers, who simply need to register on the site to get started.
Emma Byron, Managing Director of Legal & General Retail Retirement Income commented, “The existing quotation process was antiquated and not fit for purpose. It tied-up too much time, frustrating advisers and created too much uncertainty for their clients at a time of extreme need. The work we’ve completed with MorganAsh to deliver a digital portal will serve not only Legal & General but the whole market, improving the service experience for all.”
Matt Trott, Care and Protections Propositions Manager at retirement specialist Just Group, commented, “This new process for Care Funding Plan quotes will reduce the administrative overhead for advisers, care providers and GP reports – making the process of getting a Care Funding Plan much simpler. As a leading provider of care funding solutions for more than 10 years, we know that arranging care can be a very stressful time, so streamlining the process has been a key priority for us. It’s been great to be able to work with MorganAsh, National Friendly and L&G to agree this new process to benefit all our customers.”
National Friendly is also piloting at present with the aim of entering the market later in 2020. Martyn Love, Product Project Manager at National Friendly, stated. “When considering how to enter this market we recognised that adding another different provider’s process, would not help the market as a whole. Hence, we have been working with MorganAsh to provide a slick easy to use digital service, so Advisers can get the best quotes for their clients, while reducing their administrative burden. We look forward to further innovations being unveiled throughout 2020.”
Nicky Cave, Managing Director of Eldercare Solutions, welcomes this development stating that “From an adviser’s perspective, this is really exciting and will undoubtedly streamline the process of getting underwritten quotes, improving outcomes for all involved. We worked with Legal & General to bring their product to market and are currently doing the same with National Friendly. With the doubling of Providers in this market, I had some concerns that the process could actually become more laborious. I am delighted that, with this initiative, it seems the opposite will happen.”
Andrew Gething, Managing Director of MorganAsh, commented, “It’s always an anxious time when a loved one enters care, and even more so during the present crisis. We are excited to play a part in improving this process for the whole industry. Introducing this digital portal is just the beginning – we will be adding further innovations to this service, improving the quality and speed of medical underwriting and steadily reducing the turnaround times for quotations.”
“The overall trends in digitising medical underwriting have drifted towards providing an inferior service – one that reduces the quality of medical information. It can be too much of a compromise, simply because ‘doing it well’ was seen to be too hard,” says Gething. “We aim to collect detailed, accurate, medical information in a timely and compassionate manner – to deliver the best service for advisors and the best prices for consumers.”
“We are very pleased to be working with MorganAsh to bring this new quotation portal to the market, a move that will improve the quotation process immensely and create much more efficient timescales and ultimately client outcomes. Immediate Needs Annuities are so important when considering the funding options for long term care and for too long, ease for clients and growth of the market has been held back. It is exciting to see where the future of this market will go now it has this boost in technology.” Tony Mudd, Divisional Director: Development and Technical Consultancy.