Parents looking to release Equity on House

My parents are looking into releasing equity on their house which is fully paid for. They are both in their mid-fifties and just hoping for some cash to make life a bit easier. Is this possible, are their any such schemes in operation with the Government and is their age likely to cause problems when looking for the equity release.

Have you searched for existing threads on equity release products such as SHIP (Shared Home Investment Plan), RRL (Residential Reversions Limited), BoI LifeLoans which seem to be three of the main (only?) products of this class on offer? Bear in mind that some people have reservations about certain aspects of these sorts of products and IFSRA recently issued a warning press release about them:

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(oops - except the link no longer works!). They also have this booklet which might be worth checking:

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I think most equity release schemes target the over 60s. Am open to correction though.

Equity release = borrowing money. Borrowed money has to be paid back. The longer it is borrowed for, the more interest that has to be paid. Do your sums carefully & get independent advice.