Early repayment charges are calculated in two quite different ways, and which one your plan uses changes everything about how predictable it is. This sets out both, and the circumstances in which Council members waive the charge entirely.
There are two ways these are calculated and they behave completely differently. One you can plan around. The other cannot be quoted in advance at all.
Equity release may involve a lifetime mortgage, secured against your property, or a home reversion plan. It will reduce the value of your estate and impact funding long-term care.
“if a customer needs to move permanently into long-term care, whether in a care home (commercial, NHS, or local authority) or with relatives providing care, any early repayment charge will be waived by the Lender upon receipt of a medical practitioner's certificate and the terms and conditions of the loan have been met”
Equity Release Council Standards, opened 6 September 2026. It applies to their members and it covers care given by relatives as well as in a home.
Which one your plan uses is the single most important thing to establish about early repayment, and it is in your offer document.
A stated percentage of the amount repaid, usually falling over the first several years and reaching zero after a set period. You can read it off the offer and know what it would cost.
The charge moves with the yield on government gilts. It can be nothing, and it can be a great deal, and it cannot be quoted in advance because it depends on conditions on the day you repay.
We have not published any charge figures, because we have not opened any provider's current schedule and we do not publish numbers we cannot source. Your own offer document contains yours, and it is the only one that matters.
People assume this is about changing their mind. Usually it is about something else happening.
Council members’ plans “must have the ability to make repayments without incurring any charges, subject to lending criteria of the provider”. So paying some of it back as you go is a right rather than a concession, and it is the cheapest way to keep the debt down. The limits are the provider’s, so ask what yours are.
Equity release requires repaying any existing mortgage. Money released, plus accrued interest, would need to be repaid upon death or moving into long-term care.
The first one is the whole page. Everything else follows from the answer.
Is my charge a fixed percentage or linked to gilts?
The single most important question here. One you can plan around and one you cannot.
If it is a percentage, what is the schedule and when does it reach zero?
It is in the offer. Ask to be walked through it rather than reading it alone.
What would it cost me to repay in five years, on today's conditions?
An adviser can illustrate it. On a gilt-linked charge the answer will come with caveats, which is itself the answer.
How does the long-term care waiver work in practice?
The Council standard requires a medical practitioner's certificate and the loan terms to have been met. Worth understanding before you need it.
What voluntary payments can I make without a charge?
A Council standard gives you the ability; the provider sets the limits. Find out what yours are.
Short answers to the things that come up most. None of it is advice, and every figure on this page carries its source.
A fixed percentage of the amount repaid, usually falling over the first several years and reaching zero after a set period, which you can read off the offer. Or a gilt-linked charge, which moves with the yield on government gilts and cannot be quoted in advance because it depends on conditions on the day you repay.
Because we have not opened any provider current schedule, and we do not publish numbers we cannot source. Your own offer document contains yours.
On an Equity Release Council member plan, yes. The standard says that if a customer needs to move permanently into long-term care, whether in a care home or with relatives providing care, any early repayment charge will be waived, subject to the terms.
Selling up and moving somewhere the plan cannot follow, repaying because circumstances improved through an inheritance or a windfall, remortgaging to a better rate, or a death where one of a couple survives and the plan is repaid early.
On a Council member plan the standard is that customers must have the ability to make repayments without incurring any charges, subject to the lending criteria of the provider. That is separate from repaying the whole plan early.
Equity release may involve a lifetime mortgage, secured against your property, or a home reversion plan. It will reduce the value of your estate and impact funding long-term care.
One qualified equity release adviser. They will go through your figures and tell you if there is a better answer. It costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
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