I was listening the radio this week and an interesting article came up about the potential idea of personal care bonds.

You & Yours:Quality of Care:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b02x7mx2

Working the same way as regular savings bonds, personal care bonds would accrue interest and come into fruition when a person needs personal care.

I think it is an interesting use of a familiar (if not slightly out-of-fashion?) long-term model of premium bonds being put to use for individuals.

Statistics are showing that we are living longer and needing more care for more complex issues. This could be one way that every person could afford (potentially those on modest incomes and with no savings/property assets), with the pot getting bigger (potentially up to £70 billion in 70 years) as everyone puts in more. Plus, the more you buy, the greater chance of a payout - meaning that the people who need it most would be most likely to win as they had accumulated more bonds to win.

Apart from cultural/religious barriers which may prohibit some people, this could be an interesting solution providing it is indeed kept as a separate pot of money specifically for care.

Interestingly, I've not really heard anything else or can find much on the internet about this idea...

Some Links:

http://www.ilcuk.org.uk/index.php/events/personal_care_savings_bonds_could_they_be_a_new_way_for_less_well_off_peopl

http://www.cass.city.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/180683/Personal-Care-Savings-Bonds.pdf

Prof Les Mayhew - interviewed on Radio 4...

https://www.cassknowledge.com/research/author/les-mayhew

https://www.cassknowledge.com/research/article/economic-challenges-ageing-uk-population

Image from: http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/business/money/savings/article874033.ece