LTC furore sparked after BBC probes trust business

A row has broken out over the use of trusts to avoid long term care (LTC) fees after a BBC investigation.

BBC East's Inside Out, which aired this week, focused on Universal Group, which is marketed as selling ways to avoid care fees.

Whilst the firm will be investigated by the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), other estate planners claim the programme was unfair.

The firm's owner and STEP member Steve Long is shown in the programme holding seminars in which he says putting money into a trust will exempt the money from care fee assessments.

Long's former clients said he charged £3,000 to set up each trust, to be paid immediately.

The programme also claimed Long lied about his status as an accountant and lawyer.

David Harvey, chief executive of the trade body, said: "We have a robust disciplinary procedure and will be making a full investigation of the business practices revealed by the BBC.

"There is no guaranteed way of avoiding care home fees by placing assets into a trust.

"We would like the Government to take firm action to resolve the uncertainties in this area but meanwhile we expect any STEP member advising a client to give them very careful warnings of the potential pitfalls of schemes aimed at avoiding care home fees."

Industry reactions to the programme have been mixed. Steve Wilkes, director of Silver Lining Estate Planning, said: "Inside Out on BBC East was the worst piece of journalism I have ever seen.

He said the journalists had made "themselves look silly while ruining [Long's] business".

However Pierre Arman, a graduate at actuarial firm Nigel Sloam, said placing money into trust will only exempt it from care fee assessments if avoiding care fees is not the main purpose of the trust.

"You need a proper reason to [put money in trust]; if not the government will treat the trust as a part of your assets and you would be a double loser, paying care fees and the fees of the ‘nice expert'," said Arman.