Editor’s foreword

Our magazine is the key source of professional elder-care related information for solicitors, financial advisers and certain groups of health-care professionals. It has an established national readership of many thousands and a reputation to match. Its written coverage is provided by “us”, its readers, which makes it “ours”.

Contributions nowadays range from members of the Court of Protection and its support services, to professional legal and financial practices, members of the bar, organisations including Age Concern, Contact the Elderly, Solicitors for the Elderly (SFE) and National Home Fees Agency. This is, as they say, to name but a few. There are so many who have been involved in the last twelve months alone.

It is quite amazing to consider the progress that has been made since ECA was founded. The subject of elder-care advice was a real Cinderella discipline ten years ago. In fact, even the seven dwarves tended to steer clear. It was hidden among the lawyer’s probate files if it existed at all. “Nous avons changé tout cela” – “We have changed all that” (Poquelin), is too arrogant an assertion to make. But ECA and its readership, which means you, have played more than a mere walk on part. Now it is a vibrant, growing professional discipline with new members every week. As for me, ten years ago, I was an ECA reader. Five years ago, I became a contributor. Now I am its editor. All these stages have surprised me but the latest humbles me. To be considered even potentially fit for the continuation of the task that is ECA in 2003 is daunting.

Herbert Hoover once said: “All progress and growth is a matter of change.” So change there will inevitably be. The aim of ECA over the next 12 months is to systematically broaden its appeal to and input from its existing readership and to draw in other associated professional groups. That is particularly to professionals within the NHS, the world of accountancy and even, daresay local government. ECA speaks not only of the protection of “assets”, of which it is distinctly unabashed, but also the protection of “interests”. There currently appears to be an “arms race” between the needs of older people represented on one side by the practitioner armed with an improved law of due process with associated guidance, and on the other side by the representatives of certain financial considerations diametrically opposed to those interests. Consequently, the broadening of ECA will be by way of an extension of coverage rather than by reducing its established coverage to make room for more variety. No dumbing down. No watering down. ECA may instead rather grow in size as well as scope. Watch this, bigger(?) space.

We live in an increasingly complex legal and institutional environment. This generates a significant, ever-growing need for greater multidisciplinary understanding and support. All professions and even parts of professions have a certain tendency to become isolationist. But while perfectly natural, that does not serve either those professions or their clients very well. Ignorance of the relevant perspective, the law, appropriate procedures and methodology can create unnecessary confusion, duplication of effort, complexity and even conflict.

By helping to bridge the information and communication gap between professional groups, ECA aims to help all professionals connected in any way with elder-care advice and assistance to improve their functioning and level of client service. ECA is going into “conference mode”. The author Alfred Duggan said: “If a conference lasts a long time, it must end in peace; no one can keep on defying his enemies all day.” That readers is the aim. Peace between the participants in the interests of those we aim to serve. This conference may last longer than that of Versailles but rest assured it will certainly have a better result.

David Coldrick
Appointed editor from 15 June 2003

Features

Elderly Client Adviser course: Protecting the interests of older people Free
This ECA course is aimed at assisting beginners in the law affecting the elderly, and at providing useful reminders for those already engaged at expert level. In this first article, David Coldrick, a partner in charge of the Sheffield office of Wrigleys Solicitors and editor of ECA, indicates some preliminary points relevant to the adviser and the client in the context of asset-protection planning.

Unlawful waiting lists: A time to challenge? Free
Philip Spiers of the Nursing Home Fees Agency (NHFA) revisits an important aspect of the practicalities of obtaining assessed care needs for older people. The real-life situations he describes suggests that some local authorities are still acting in clear breach of the law. He reminds readers that local authorities must act within a reasonable time or be open to challenge.

The Lord Chancellor’s Department guidance on mental incapacity Free
Anne Edis, founder and president of Solicitors for the Elderly, examines the “simple and well-prepared” guidance issued in the last days of our (possibly) penultimate Lord Chancellor. Given his Lordship’s rather rapid “retirement” from the regal and expensively papered lodgings since publication, we might agree that by contrast its drafting was: “A pleasant occupation for a rather susceptible Chancellor!” (Sir William S Gilbert 1836-1911) and that, in the context of the complexities of mental capacity, is really saying something.

Personal-injury trusts and the older client Free
Independent financial adviser Mike Hurst uses his experience of the practicalities of handling personal-injury awards to consider the use of personal-injury trusts in the specific context of awards for older people.

IHT planning and the older client Free
Barrister Richard Wilson examines the obstacles and opportunities to help advisers loosen the grip of the Treasury upon the hard-earned wealth of the older generation. There is a useful reminder of some basic exemptions that can create a significant saving (subject to care being taken), and this is followed by a clear exegesis of the now famous (soon to be infamous?) Eversden case.

Making a difference in meeting society’s greatest challenge Free
As founder and chairman of the national charity, Contact the Elderly, solicitor Trevor Lyttleton has had the opportunity to develop unique insights into the lives of older people afflicted by the mental distresses and frailties associated with the onset of old age. The charity now has forty-years’ experience in the provision of regular care lifelines to thousands of frail older people and has 4,000 nationwide volunteers. As Lyttleton says, however, loneliness is still a killer.