Just Care Plan: paying for long-term care with an annuity

A Just Care Plan is a care annuity, sometimes called an immediate needs annuity. You pay a single one-off lump sum, and in exchange the provider pays a guaranteed monthly amount towards your care fees for the rest of your life¹. It is designed for someone who is already receiving care, or who will need care when the plan starts, and whose need for care is expected to be permanent until they die².

It is not a savings plan and it is not a pension. It is an insurance policy against the risk that you live a long time in care, and it is bought through a financial adviser rather than off the shelf. The trade-off is straightforward: you give up a lump sum, and in return you stop worrying about whether your money will run out before your care does.

The amount of monthly income depends on your age, your health and your care needs, and the provider's own site carries today's figures. This page explains how the plan works, what drives the cost, who can take one out, what protection applies, and what to do if something goes wrong.

What it is and who it is for

A care annuity solves one specific problem: the uncertainty of how long you will need to pay for care. Care fees are usually charged weekly and can run for years, so a lump sum held in a savings account may or may not last. A care annuity converts that lump sum into a known monthly amount that cannot run out while you are alive.

The eligibility rule is narrow and worth reading twice. The provider states that applicants must be currently receiving care, or will need care when the plan starts, which is expected to be permanent until they die². That rules out buying one as a precaution before any care need arises. It also means the plan is normally arranged at the point where care has already begun, or is about to.

Because the plan is priced on your health and life expectancy, the same lump sum buys very different amounts for different people. Someone with a serious health condition and a short expected stay in care will get a much higher monthly payment than someone in good health with a long expected stay. That is not a penalty; it is how the product is designed. The provider is pooling the risk that some people live far longer in care than expected.

Care annuities sit alongside other ways of meeting care costs. Some people pay from savings and investments, some from the sale of a home, some from local authority support after a care needs assessment, and some from a combination. If you qualify for support from the council following your care needs assessment, the council must work with you to put a care and support plan in place⁷. That plan sets out what the council will pay and what you will pay, and it is the starting point for working out whether a care annuity is worth considering at all.

How it works

The mechanics are simple. You make a single one-off payment, and the provider pays a guaranteed monthly amount to help pay your care fees for the rest of your life¹. The payment is made for as long as you live, whether that is months or many years.

The money is normally paid directly to the care provider. Independent Age explains that if you pay your own fees, NHS-funded nursing care is normally paid directly to the nursing home, and if the council pays for your care, the funding goes straight to them⁶. Care annuities work in a similar way: the income is usually directed to whoever is providing the care, which reduces the administrative burden on you and your family.

There are variations on the basic design. A standard lifetime plan pays the highest monthly amount but returns nothing if you die soon after buying it. A plan with capital protection returns some of the lump sum to your estate if you die within a set period, and a plan with a guaranteed minimum payment period pays out for a fixed number of years regardless. Each of these options reduces the monthly income, because the provider is taking on less risk. The provider's site sets out which options are available and what they do to the amount paid.

How the fees and charges work

There is no separate fee schedule to compare, because the cost is built into the price. You pay a single premium, and the provider works out how much monthly income that premium buys based on your age, health and care needs. The provider's site carries today's figures.

That means the way to compare care annuities is not by looking for the lowest charge, but by comparing the monthly income different providers will offer for the same premium and the same health details. Because care annuities are priced individually, there is no published rate card. Two people of the same age with the same premium can be offered very different monthly amounts if their health differs. This is why the plan is sold through an adviser who can approach several providers and compare what each one offers for your specific circumstances.

Shopping around matters in the wider annuity market, where rates are published. Which? has reported that the difference between the highest and lowest offers for the same person can be substantial, and that buying without comparing providers risks losing out⁸. The same principle applies to care annuities, where the pricing is individual rather than published.

If you are funding care from a lump sum, it is worth understanding what else that money could do. MoneyHelper and Independent Age both publish free guidance on the options, and an adviser can set out the alternatives side by side. A care annuity is one option among several, not the default.

Who can apply and how to apply

The eligibility test is set by the provider and is narrow. You must be currently receiving care, or will need care when the plan starts, and that need must be expected to be permanent until you die². If your care need is temporary, or if you are planning ahead before any need arises, this product is not designed for you.

The application process runs through a financial adviser. The adviser will ask about your health, your medical history, your current care arrangements and the fees you are paying. That information goes to providers, who price the plan individually. You then pay a single premium, and the provider begins paying the monthly amount.

There is no online application for this type of plan. The provider states that its Lifetime Care plan involves a single one-off payment¹, and the adviser arranges the paperwork. If you already have an adviser, they can handle the process. If you do not, you can find one through the usual directories, and it is worth checking that they specialise in later-life advice and care funding.

Before you commit, ask for the cancellation terms in writing. Annuities normally come with a cooling-off period during which you can change your mind and get your money back. After that period ends, a lifetime care plan cannot usually be undone or transferred, so the decision is effectively permanent. That is the single most important thing to understand before signing.

How your money is protected

Just is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and it also appears on the Bank of England's list of insurers incorporated in the UK authorised to carry out contracts of insurance⁴. The company is active on the Companies House register, company number 05017193, incorporated on 16 January 2004⁹.

That matters because of how compensation works. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme states that it can only protect you if the Financial Conduct Authority has authorised your pension provider⁵. Long-term insurance policies, including annuities, fall within the scheme's scope, so if the provider failed financially, the scheme would step in subject to its limits and rules.

Protection does not cover everything. It does not cover you if you were misled about what you were buying, if the advice you received was unsuitable, or if you change your mind after the cooling-off period. Those are complaints, not compensation claims, and they go down a different route.

If you are using a lump sum that came from a pension, the tax treatment of the income matters too. Care annuity income is generally treated as income rather than as a pension, but the rules are detailed and depend on your circumstances. An adviser can explain how the payments are taxed before you buy.

Problems, complaints and getting help

If something goes wrong, the first step is to complain to the provider. The Financial Ombudsman Service expects you to have made a complaint to the provider you are unhappy about before it will look at a case¹⁰. Put the complaint in writing, explain the problem fully, what action you have taken so far, who you dealt with and what happened as a result¹¹. Keep a copy of everything.

If the provider does not resolve the complaint to your satisfaction within eight weeks, or issues a final response you disagree with, you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The service is free and independent, and it can order a firm to put things right. It publishes quarterly complaints data by product, which shows how many complaints it receives in each category¹². Pre-paid funeral plans, a comparable later-life product, attracted 35 complaints in the first quarter of 2026/27¹², and Section 32 plans attracted 17 new complaints in the third quarter of 2025/26¹³.

The ombudsman can also direct people to other sources of help. In one case study, it explained that it put a complainant in touch with both debt and mental health charities to help improve his situation¹⁴. That is a reminder that a complaint about a financial product is often tangled up with wider problems, and that free support exists.

For free, impartial help with care funding, Independent Age publishes guidance on paying for care, NHS funding and care at home⁶. If you qualify for council support after a care needs assessment, the council must work with you to put a care and support plan in place⁷. For pensions and retirement income questions, Pension Wise offers free guidance. If you are struggling with debt alongside care costs, StepChange and Business Debtline both offer free advice, and CAP Debt Help reviews complaints at a senior level within the charity on a regular basis¹⁵.