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The latest news, views and industry articles from 2plan
SMALLWOOD'S SHOUT for IFA Online - "2plan's Smallwood on long-term care"
The Government's controversial Social Care Bill, recently debated in the House of Lords, promised to provide free care at home for 400,000 elderly people in the most vulnerable category. Whilst on the face of it, this sounds encouraging news, critics say that the funding for this will involve over £600m being diverted from the NHS's existing budget. And, to compound the misery, it is now becoming abundantly clear that many long term care (LTC) insurance policies have significantly scaled back benefits in recent years, leaving thousands, possibly millions more elderly people exposed. According to Sir Derek Wanless, who conducted an in-depth reviews of the UK's care system, by 2026 the number of people over 65 with a dependency will rise by 53 per cent and the number of people aged over 65 will rise from 8.17 million in 2007 to 11.59 million in 2026. The publication of the recent Government green paper, 'Shaping the future of Care Together' indicated that steps were ...
SMALLWOOD'S SHOUT for IFA Online - 'Disaster Recovery - are you taking it seriously?'
Since 2002, following the terrorist attacks in the US which saw the regulator's Canary Wharf HQ temporarily close, the FSA has been working to ensure firms are "properly prepared" when operations are disrupted. Despite this, very few adviser firms have ever attempted a complete disaster recovery and understandably the Regulator is working hard to remedy this in the broader intermediary marketplace. Following record floods in the past few months, the FSA stated that it was assessing the impact that severe weather, including flooding, would have on different sizes and types of financial firms. As part of this, the Regulator stated that it is working with about 80 businesses to examine their preparedness for disaster recovery, office evacuation and their abilities to ...
2Plan or not to plan?
During the last month AT8 has enjoyed meeting a range of large and small IFAs, to investigate how they use technology to streamline their businesses. We have gained valuable insights to the working practices of the modern IFA and the role IT plays within their firm. It has also helped us understand which technology suppliers are leading the field and ...
Structured Products & Serious Advice - TECHNICALLY SPEAKING November 09
The past few weeks has seen a plethora of 'breaking news' headlines that has certainly sparked interest - especially for those of us wearing ...
SMALLWOOD'S SHOUT for IFA Online - 'Is Solvency II worth it?'
Despite an increasingly busy fourth quarter for many in the industry, it is unlikely to have escaped too many people's notice that the possible ...
SMALLWOOD'S SHOUT for IFA Online - 'Please Mind the Gap'
Regardless of the many news articles now claiming there is light at the end of the recessionary tunnel, many businesses are still suffering with ...