Most financial plans treat cancer as a rare event, or as though a diagnosis always means the end of the road.

New joint research from Scottish Widows and Macmillan, tells a different story. By 2045, cancer prevalence in the UK is forecast to rise by 58%, taking the number of people living with or beyond cancer to 5.4 million and survival rates have doubled in the last forty years. So, cancer is no longer the death sentence it once was, and that changes what financial planning needs to do.

That’s why we invited Scottish Widows national account manager, Jonathan Hall, to join host Richard Allum and talk through what the research means and help paraplanners understand what it might mean to their day-to-day paraplanning.

John unpacks what’s driving the increase (an ageing population, earlier diagnosis through screening, and improving survival rates), and what it means for clients at every stage: building cash flow models that stress test a plan against a cancer diagnosis, why premiums for the same cover roughly triple by your thirties and more than double again by your forties, and how needs shift from a client in their twenties protecting a lifestyle to one in retirement assuming their savings will simply see them through.

Tune in now to find out how to bring this conversation to life for your clients.

What can you expect?

Request a CPD certificate and download Jonathan’s slides

Once you have watched or listened to this episode, you can request a certificate of attendance for 35 minutes’ CPD. To do that, follow the link below where you will also be able to download Jonathan’s slides.

A Kerr-Fuffell family member has snuffed it. But was it foul play? Join paraplanner sleuths to sift for clues and crack the case.

You’re invited to a Big Day Out with a difference.

Because we’d love you to gather with paraplanners from across the UK at West Horsley Place in Surrey from 9am on Tuesday 3 November 2026.

Over the course of the day, you’ll work out which member of the Kerr-Fuffell family stood to gain most from the untimely demise of their (perhaps not so) loved one.

Our writers room of supremely well-qualified paraplanners is busily concocting a series of – fingers crossed – interconnected case studies.

Inheritance tax, pensions, estate planning, wills, lasting powers of attorney, divorce, protection – you name it – we’ll cram it in.

In other words, you’re guaranteed an agenda that will be bursting at the seams with seven hours’ worth of CPD. That’s knowledge and insights that you can apply to client cases right away.

How will the day work?

At 10am, we’ll gather in the Great Hall for your briefing on the untimely demise of Lady Fifi.

Then you’ll join one of four groups, each led by a duo of paraplanning detectives.

In a series of sessions, your group will meet with expert witnesses drawn from our supporters – that’s Aegon, Howden, M&G, Quilter, Scottish Widows, Transact and Wealthtime – to sift evidence contained in case studies.

Whoa there! Why does West Horsley Place look familiar?

If you’re a fan of the hit BBC TV comedy ‘Ghosts’, it will.

Because West Horsley Place is Button House!

And do you know what? It looks EXACTLY like it does on the telly – outside and in.

So not only will you get to take part in the Big Day Out, you can sneak a few selfies in the Great Hall, the library, that long red room upstairs, the grand staircase, the garden, even the corridor that leads to the plague pit.

What’s more, we’ll take the traditional ‘school photo’ in front of house.

How exciting is that?!

And in a happy coincidence, we’ll be gathering for our Big Day Out just one week after ‘Ghosts: The Possession of Button House’ is released in UK cinemas.

Will you feed me?

This is a Paraplanners’ Assembly event, so we won’t scrimp on the catering.

Your ticket includes breakfast baps (or butties) on arrival, a delicious hot buffet lunch, plus a sweet treat with your tea in the afternoon.

There will be vegetarian and vegan options. And if there are ingredients you need to be careful of, let us know when you book, and we’ll take care of that.

Surrey? But that’s far far away!

It’s a fair cop. For 12 years we’ve hosted events in the Midlands-ish, so it was reasonably easy for people to get to.

But getting exclusive use of a country estate for a whole day’s Whodunnit that’s just the right size for a Big Day Out – well, that’s quite tricky.

Being big ‘Ghosts’ fans, when we discovered we could have Button House to ourselves for the day, we couldn’t resist.

We know Surrey is a stretch. And if that means you don’t feel able to join us this year, we’ll make it up to you next year. Promise.

Getting there

By car: West Horsley Place is off the A246 between Guildford and Leatherhead. It’s ten minutes’ drive from the A3/M25 intersection. Leave the A3 at junction 10. You can park for free in the visitor car park.

By train: Horsley station is one mile away, with frequent trains from London Waterloo (49-minute journey), Vauxhall, Clapham Junction and Guildford (14-minute journey). Woking station is 8 miles away, with frequent, fast trains to and from London. It takes about 25 minutes to walk from the station to West Horsley Place. It is a lovely walk through the estate, but you will need footwear suitable for wet, muddy or uneven ground. Follow the bridleway and you’ll arrive in the car park and welcome area.

By bus: The 479 Guildford-Bookham-Leatherhead-Epsom service operates roughly hourly. The nearest stop is East Horsley, Duke of Wellington. It takes approximately 7 minutes to walk from the stop. The entrance to West Horsley Place is on the right before you reach St Mary’s Church. Walk down the drive to reach the Welcome Area next to the Barn.

Here’s the bus timetable: Service 479

Where to stay

West Horsley Place has plenty of places to stay. There are two large hotels within three mins of the Big Day Out venue:

De Vere Horsley Estate
Thatchers Hotel

Within 15 minutes’ drive:

Travelodge, Leatherhead

What to wear

West Horsley Place is heated throughout. But it’s a rambling old country pile with flagstone floors on the ground floor, so we’re suggesting you dress for cosy toes and tops (and – what’s to lose – cosy everywhere really too).

Is West Horsley Place accessible?

The ground floor of the Manor House is wheelchair accessible, with a platform lift to the first floor. If you’d find the short walk – or gravel path – from the car park difficult, let us know when you book and we’ll contact the team at West Horsley to make sure you’re looked after when you arrive.

Book your spot now

A Big Day Out Whodunnit costs £50. But there are limited places, so don’t hang about. To book your spot now, follow this link:

Group bookings

We’ve limited group bookings to five places. If you want to book more than that, email us and we’ll add you to the waiting list.

Pensions will become subject to inheritance tax (IHT) from April 2027, but how much of a role does protection play in your approach to building IHT strategies for your clients? And how confident are you about the protection options that are available to you?

But with IHT receipts expected to almost double, and sweeping changes to business and agricultural property relief already landing from April 2026, paraplanners can expect more and more clients to want to explore all the options.

So at this Assembly, host Richard Allum was joined by Alan Jenkinson, protection specialist at Scottish Widows, to walk through the essentials. During their lunch-hour discussion, Richard and Alan unpack IHT and how it works, run through the key exemptions and reliefs, and explore how protection fits into an IHT planning conversation alongside gifting strategies, trust structures and the normal expenditure out of income rules.

There’s also a really useful section on the underwriting process: what to do when a client has health risk factors, when concurrent applications make sense, and why a declined application isn’t necessarily the end of the road.

If you’re looking for a solid grounding in this area — or a practical refresher before your next client review — this one’s well worth an hour of your time.

Following his popular Assembly debut in February, Jon Hall returns to finish his exploration of protection essentials at 1pm on Wednesday 2 April 2025.

And this time it’s the essentials of business protection that the Scottish Widows’ protection expert will be focusing on.

And with good reason.

A Swiss Re report in 2024 claimed that of almost 1.4 million new protection policies sold in the UK in 2023, just 2.8% were related to business protection and relevant life policies [1]. And in a country where 99.8% of the 5.6 million privately owned businesses are SMEs – that’s according to the UK Government data – it doesn’t half seem like there’s a BIG business protection gap in the UK. (The source of those stats, you ask? See below.)

The chances are you’ll have business owners among your clients. And plenty of you run your own businesses as outsourced and freelance paraplanners.

So what happens when someone running a business becomes critically ill or dies? What steps can you take to address the risk? How do you start a conversation about business protection?

Tune in to hear Jon as he shares his expertise on:

Whether you want to develop your knowledge or make sure clients with business have the right plans in place, you’ll find this Assembly really valuable.

PS.

Shortly after the event, Jon popped over to The Big Tent and answered questions that paraplanners had raised during the gathering, but he hadn’t had time to answer live, in a dedicated thread. Be sure to take a look at his responses.

[1] The Business Protection Opportunity.

Do you find that, even though you spend each and every day working on financial plans for clients, you hardly ever get mixed up in protection? 

Well you’re not alone. Because despite being a foundational long-term financial security, for paraplanners, the topic of protection often takes a back seat compared to consideration of investment and retirement strategies.

Which invites the question: what happens to that carefully crafted financial plan if a client’s income falls or they’re faced with the financial consequences of a bout of serious illness or worse? 

In other words, what does every self-respecting paraplanner need to know to make sure their clients plans don’t unravel when the unexpected happens unexpectedly?

Protection: get up to speed

To find out tune into the recording of this Assembly held online on 5 February 2025 when Jon Hall, protection specialist at Scottish Widows, joined us to explore protection essentials for paraplanners.

Whether you’re new to protection or need a refresher, the recording of this session will help you understand:

What you’ll discover when you tune in

Jon brings real-world experience as both a protection specialist and former adviser focusing on high-net-worth and complex cases. He shares insights on how paraplanners can help build protection into the advice process, even in firms where it hasn’t traditionally been a focus.

Straight after the event, Jon popped over to The Big Tent and created a thread where he answered questions that paraplanners had raised during the gathering but he hadn’t had time to answer live. Be sure to take a look at his responses.

Think of this as your Paraplanners Protection Toolkit, perfect for:

Anyone with limited protection experience Anyone who wants to increase their understanding and want to introduce more protection into client plans Anyone who thinks they know it all but wouldn’t mind brushing up a little

Learning objectives

In this session we covered…

Think of this as your Paraplanners Protection Toolkit, perfect for:

Anyone with limited protection experience Anyone who wants to increase their understanding and want to introduce more protection into client plans Anyone who thinks they know it all but wouldn’t mind brushing up a little

Learning objectives

In this session we covered…

Think of this as your Paraplanners Protection Toolkit, perfect for:

Anyone with limited protection experience Anyone who wants to increase their understanding and want to introduce more protection into client plans Anyone who thinks they know it all but wouldn’t mind brushing up a little

Learning objectives

In this session we covered…

Protection sits at the heart of many financial plans and we explore the basics.

Learning objectives

In this session we covered…