Regulatory status

The Care and Home Inheritance Plan is not an FCA-regulated product.

This page sets out the regulatory position of the Plan in clear language. It explains what the Plan is, what it is not, and what protections apply to your family at every stage. If anything below is unclear, your independent solicitor will go through it with you before any Plan is signed.

What the Plan is, in regulatory terms

The Care and Home Inheritance Plan is a structured service. It is built around a long lease granted on the family home to My Lifetime Care. The lease is a property arrangement governed by ordinary English property law. The funding obligation that runs alongside the lease is a contractual commitment by My Lifetime Care to pay the agreed care costs of the family member for whom the Plan is set up.

The Plan is not a financial advice service. We do not advise families on how to structure their wealth, manage their pensions, or arrange their tax affairs. We provide a service that funds care costs and that uses the home as the underlying mechanism for doing so.

Why the Plan is not an FCA-regulated product

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulates specific categories of activity in the United Kingdom. Those categories include, for example, the giving of regulated financial advice, the operation of certain consumer credit arrangements, and the marketing of regulated investment products. The Care and Home Inheritance Plan has been designed and legally reviewed so that it sits outside those categories.

The Plan is not a loan to your family and does not accrue interest against the home. It is not an investment. It is not a regulated mortgage contract. It is not equity release as defined by the FCA. It is a service contract backed by a property lease.

This means. Your family will not receive the protections that apply to FCA-regulated products. In particular, the Plan is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and disputes are not within the scope of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

In place of those protections, the Plan requires that your family takes independent legal advice from a solicitor of your choosing. Your solicitor’s duty is to your family, not to My Lifetime Care. This is the substantive protection the Plan is built on.

Mandatory independent legal advice

No Plan is signed without your family having taken independent legal advice from a solicitor your family has chosen. Your solicitor reviews the Plan documentation, the lease, and the funding obligation. Your solicitor explains each element in plain language. Your solicitor identifies anything in the Plan that your family should question, change, or refuse.

My Lifetime Care contributes to your independent solicitor’s reasonable fees so that families are not penalised financially for taking the legal advice the Plan requires. Your solicitor is paid for advising you. Your solicitor is not paid for completing the Plan.

Ownership and governance

My Lifetime Care Ltd is wholly owned by My Respite Care, a UK registered charity (charity no. 1152941). The charity’s objects relate to the relief of need among older people. The governance structure is designed so that the charity’s purpose, and therefore the interests of the families the Plan serves, sit above commercial return.

This is a structural protection. It is not a statement about outcomes. Like any service provider, My Lifetime Care has its own running costs, makes operational decisions, and is subject to ordinary commercial pressures. The charity-ownership structure is one of several layers; the mandatory legal advice is another; the lease is the most concrete.

What this page does not do

This page does not constitute financial advice. Nothing on this page should be taken as a statement that the Plan is the right route for any particular family. The Plan suits some families and not others, as set out on the Who CHIP is for page.

This page also does not summarise the Plan itself. The full Plan documentation is provided to your family at the start of the process, before any commitments are made and before your solicitor begins their review. The documentation is the source of truth for the terms of any Plan; this page is a clear statement of regulatory position only.

Other regulated alternatives

For families considering options other than CHIP, the regulated alternatives include the following. Each has its own framework and its own protections.

Equity release is regulated by the FCA. Lifetime mortgages and home reversion plans are within scope. Equity release providers must give regulated financial advice through an authorised adviser; FSCS protection applies in the event of provider failure; complaints fall within FOS scope.
Deferred Payment Agreements (DPAs) are administered by local authorities under the Care Act 2014. The agreement is between your family and the council. The council’s ombudsman handles disputes.
Selling the home is an ordinary property transaction. It does not require an FCA-authorised adviser, although a solicitor is normally instructed for the conveyancing.

A factual comparison of the structural differences between these options and CHIP is on the compare options pages.

Company details

My Lifetime Care Ltd is registered in England and Wales, company number 10340455. The registered office is in Pontypool, South Wales. The parent charity, My Respite Care, is registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales, registration number 1152941.

Contact

If you have a regulatory question about the Plan, the simplest route is a phone call to 02921 510 150 Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm. If you would prefer to write, the address is info@mylifetimecare.co.uk. Either way, we will respond within one working day.

Page last reviewed 18 May 2026. This page is reviewed at least annually and after any material change to the Plan or to the regulatory environment.