The Equity Release Council (The Council) has welcomed OneFamily Lifetime Mortgages to its membership after the new provider launched its first lifetime mortgage products earlier this month.

By becoming a member of The Council, OneFamily follows in the footsteps of new entrants Legal & General Home Finance in 2015 and Pure Retirement in 2014, and joins existing provider members Aviva, Bridgewater, Hodge Lifetime, Just Retirement and Partnership (now part of JRP Group), LV=, more 2 life, Retirement Advantage (formerly Stonehaven) and Retirement Plus. 

OneFamily Lifetime Mortgages is led by Georgina Smith, under the authority of the OneFamily Group.  Georgina has a wealth of experience in the lifetime mortgage sector, as both CEO and Sales and Marketing Director at Stonehaven.  She brings with her a strong and experienced leadership team to head up OneFamily Lifetime Mortgages, including former Council board member and Hodge Lifetime Sales Director, Jon Tweed.

Confirmation of its membership comes as The Council marks the 25^th anniversary of the first industry Standards being created for equity release under the banner of Safe Home Income Plans (SHIP) in 1991. The Council today represents over 400 individual members and 150 member firms including providers, qualified financial advisers, solicitors, surveyors and other industry professionals.

Analysis of industry data shows its provider members accounted for 95% of all equity release lending during Q1 2016, totaling £393.9m.¹ The market’s post-recession recovery has seen annual lending via Council members more than double in size from £788m in 2011 to £1.61bn in 2015: up 33% from the pre-financial crisis peak of £1.21bn in 2007.

Nigel Waterson, Chairman of the Equity Release Council, comments:

“We are delighted to welcome OneFamily Lifetime Mortgages to our membership and look forward to its contribution to help UK homeowners make use of their housing wealth, where appropriate, for financial support in retirement. 

“The equity release sector is experiencing growing demand from consumers keen to consider all of their available assets as part of their later life financial planning. It is very encouraging to see the market respond with increasing choice and flexibilities, with research by Moneyfacts² highlighting the growing range of products and options in recent years.

“Our members have led the way in establishing a safe and reliable market for consumers, by providing guarantees about the standards of advice and products they will receive from firms who carry our logo. This work will continue as the sector explores new ways to combine innovation with protection and long-term sustainability.”

Georgina Smith, Managing Director of OneFamily Lifetime Mortgages, comments:

“We have introduced new and innovative features into the lifetime mortgage market, including the option of a variable interest rate.  We have done this to extend consumer choice and to help grow the market.  

“When we launched our intention to enter the lifetime mortgage market, we said that all of OneFamily’s plans would be underpinned by The Equity Release Council safeguards and be based on the highest ethical standards, as befits a mutual organisation. 

“These products will complement OneFamily’s vision to enable families to work together to meet the financial demands of modern life.”

-Ends-

Notes to editors

¹ This compares with an estimated £415m of lending across all equity release providers during Q1 2016, according to Key Retirement’s Market Monitor 

² Moneyfacts, Rising demand for equity release – and more choice, published March 2016:

For further information, please contact:

• Andy Lane, Jordan Campbell or Victoria Heslop at Instinctif Partners, on 020 7427 1400 or email [email protected]

About The Equity Release Council:

The Equity Release Council is the industry body for the equity release sector, which represents over 400 members including providers, qualified financial advisers, solicitors, surveyors and other industry professionals.

It works to ensure a safe equity release market for consumers, by operating rigorous Standards for the provision of advice and products which guarantee security of tenure and financial protections. 2016 marks the 25th anniversary since the first industry Standards were created for equity release in 1991. Since then, over 350,000 consumers have taken out an equity release plan from Council members, drawing on almost £17bn of housing wealth.

The Council also works with consumers, industry and policy makers to improve awareness and understanding of equity release and the potential for housing wealth to help solve many of the financial challenges facing people over the age of 55 across the UK.

About OneFamily

OneFamily combines nearly 40 years’ experience of being the trusted provider of financial solutions for families and has more than £7bn of assets under management.  OneFamily serves around one in 12 families in the UK. As a mutual it is a member-owned business, investing in delivering value to its clients, rather than focusing on paying a dividend to shareholders.