'Innovation needs to be paired with appropriate levels of support to advisers': Scott Burman, Pure Retirement

FR: We’re nearly two years on from Consumer Duty and there continues to be talk of the need for advisers to ensure they’re delivering best outcomes for their clients. To what extent is there a cross-industry responsibility to support advisers so that they can best support their clients?

The best outcomes for consumers ultimately stem from advisers being informed so that they’ve the knowledge and expertise to be able to find the best solution for their clients, and as a result we’ve all got a responsibility as an industry to ensure that advisers are adequately supported.

This is especially true now that lifetime mortgage rates have recently been tracking alongside those of residential mortgages, meaning they’ve become an increasingly important part of the financial planning process. Additionally, sourcing tools are now embracing both mainstream and later life products, meaning that advisers have sight of the full range of possibilities available for their clients.

For us, that support comes from giving people ready access to key information, a mentality that has underpinned the recent launch of our new website, which features a wealth of resources for advisers from product information and calculators through to educational guides and demographic data. From our perspective, the better informed an adviser is the better they’re able to serve their customer.

FR: How has product innovation changed the later life lending space lately, and what role can lenders play in ensuring advisers fully understand the options available to their clients?

I think the new breed of lifetime mortgages have undoubtedly opened up new options for consumers, which they’ve really embraced, not least because of the flexibility they offer.

If we look at an interest serviced lifetime mortgage, they’re an effective solution for property asset rich customers aged 55 to 85 with some income, but not enough to pass an affordability assessment and hence unable to qualify for a residential mortgage, but who wish to reduce the cost of borrowing by utilising their limited income to make regular monthly payments of at least 25% of the monthly interest amount and receive a discount, knowing that should they need to, they can stop making monthly payments at any time.

But naturally these sorts of products need explaining to consumers, and when we launched interest servicing on our Heritage products last year we invested a lot of time and effort in ensuring that the product mechanics (and key features such as payment holidays) were communicated to advisers through a suite of documents, videos, and webinars.

Innovation is undoubtedly great, but it needs to be metered against becoming overly complex for consumers, and it needs to be paired with appropriate levels of support to advisers.

FR: Do you think that service is currently the main differentiator among lenders, and how are Pure Retirement ensuring they’re assisting their adviser network?

It’s important that as a sector we view service and support as a core responsibility in helping consumers achieve their financial goals, rather than a just a marketing strapline – and that begins from day one by ensuring that all advisers have access to the tools and information they need to be able to give the best advice and deliver best outcomes for their clients.

We’re fortunate to have an incredibly committed team of field-based and telephone BDMs, ensuring that all of our advisers have access to dedicated regional sales contacts who understand their role in the process and the importance of offering advisers the help they need throughout the process – our field-based BDMs alone have conducted over 520 appointments so far this year.

We’ve recently extended the remit of our sales team to further aid advisers during the early stages of application by helping with pre-checks to determine eligibility and ensure there are no surprises further down the process. This includes ID and verification, setting up electronic ID checks to streamline future applications, conducting flood zone and property criteria checks, and flagging any potential issues around property condition.

Similarly, we’ve recognised the importance in offering a dedicated underwriter to each case to ensure consistency and an easier journey to completion. The underwriting team have also adopted a phone-first culture to liaise with advisers should anything come up, in addition to proactively looking for alternatives should a first-choice product prove unsuitable for a client or their property.

FR: Earlier this year you released research that suggested that 80% of surveyed later life advisers were looking to grow their business in 2025 – is this something you’ve continued to see as the year has progressed?

It’s heartening to see that despite recent challenges in the market that advisers continue to not only believe in the opportunities the sector continues to provide, but to invest in their businesses to ensure they’re maximising them.

That same research found that 66% of advisers wanted to invest in their marketing, so we’ve ensured that we’ve continued to invest and provide our free marketing toolkit service, enabling registered advisers to access a wealth of educational guides and marketing collateral templates (the latter of which can be customised to their branding). Over the past 12 months we’ve completed 210 toolkit requests, supporting advisers with digital and print adverts, event assets, and social media imagery.

Ultimately providing the toolkit service is just another way in which we understand our role and responsibility in growing the sector through effectively supporting all the market, all the time and helping them access the market’s full potential from day one. With the market showing positive signs at the start of the year, hopefully initiatives like this can go some way to maintaining a positive trajectory and helping over-55s in Britain to use their property wealth to achieve their financial goals.