Age UK has closed its equity release advice service following allegations by the Telegraph newspaper.

The charity for the elderly offered its equity release advice through its commercial arm Age Co, but the service was run by Hub Financial which is owned by equity release lender Just.

The company denied that the decision to close its advice arm was linked to an investigation by the newspaper last year.

It did not rule out returning to the market with another broker partner.

In its investigation, the Telegraph found that the advisers from Hub Financial was routinely recommending deals from its parent company.

Age UK would receive commission of 0.75 per cent of the loan value of lifetime mortgages taken out through the service.

The advice service operated from a limited panel of Aviva, Bridgewater, Legal & General, OneFamily and Just.

However, while this limited scope was made clear, the investigation found that in most cases borrowers were offered a deal from Just.

The newspaper alleged that, when advising customers, Hub’s staff “followed a methodology that prompts them to offer Just deals for the most common consumer needs”.

It said the only instances in which a customer will not be offered a plan from Just would be on loans worth less than £30,000 where interest is paid monthly, plans with variable interest rates or other cases that do not fall within Just’s criteria.

The newspaper claimed customers were not told if they could have qualified for a better deal elsewhere.

A spokeswoman for Age Co, the commercial arm of the charity, says: “Age UK Enterprises’ contract with HUB Financial Solutions for its provision of the Age Co Equity Release Advice Service came to an end earlier in February.

“Any prospective customers who enquired about the service before 3 February can continue to gain Age Co Equity Release advice as long as they make contact with HUB before 3 March, and existing customers who have taken out Equity Release through HUB won’t be affected.

“We continue to believe that Equity Release can be a good solution for older people under the right circumstances, and we welcome the increasing number of reputable providers and products in the market. It is possible that Age Co may provide Equity Release options in the future, but there are no details confirmed at this point.

“Age UK Enterprises’ exit from the Equity Release market was not prompted by The Daily Telegraph’s enquiries about the Age Co Equity Release Advice Service in May 2019.”