Appointee question - who is liable?

elsien

A person has a corporate appointee. The corporate appointee changed a couple of years ago due to the care home they live in being taken over by another organisation.
The new corporate appointee then finds out that legally the person has been receiving a pension of approx £500 pa that has not been declared for the last 15 years. They declare this to the benefits agency. Although the person has not received the money themselves and were not aware of its existence, income support is then stopped and the benefits agency are minded to try to recover the money. The person does not have the means to repay it themselves.
Is it correct that the corporate appointee can be asked to repay if the person is unable to do so, even though the majority of the overpayment preceeds that date at which they became the appointee?

suelees1

Yes, an appointee can be asked to repay the money. Was the original and the current one appointed by the Court of Protection? Is there capital being held on behalf of this person ?

elsien

No, the court of protection isn't involved and there is no capital being held on the person's behalf. The care home applied to be corporate appointee - prior to that it was whover was the registered manager of the home at the time - and was accepted as suitable by the benefits agency.
The concern is that the care home may decide that they cannot afford to repay the sums involved and terminate the placement of the person thus ceasing to be the appointee. Would they be able to avoid liability be doing this?
Would they be liable for the full amount even if the involvement is relatively recent?

suelees1

It can't be the fault of the new appointee if as you say they have now declared this. The responsibility of failing to disclose seems to be down the the first appointee. There is a link here

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/app-01.pdf (scroll down to section 8)

but it won't really tell you anything about the current situation but in my opinion as long as the new one has acted reasonably and declared it as soon as they became aware then there shouldn't be a problem at all. It will depend on individual circumstances. IF and I really do mean IF there is the possibility of the care home terminating this placement as you fear there is always discretion for the DWP NOT to recover and I would say this is one of the circumstances when they would waive recovery (that's if they were intending to recover it in the first place).

elsien

None of the appointees at the care home have deliberately failed to disclose - none of them were aware of the money which they were not told about when the person moved to the home. It only recently came to light (slightly complicated situation.) Prior to that the appointee was probably a family member which is where the original failure to disclose most likely arose. although it is unclear whether the person received means tested benefits prior to moving to the home.
The DWP have not made a definite decision but are indicating to the corporate appointee that they are likely to want to recover. The corporate appointee has indicated that they are not in a position to be able to pay - they seem to believe that the DWP will look to them for the money rather than the family who made the original mistake. Hence the concern.

suelees1

From what you've said (and if the DWP knows the full facts) it's extremely doubtful they'll seek to recover from the current appointee. How could they possible disclose something they didn't know about ? If the Decision Maker decides it is recoverable an appeal should be made giving all the relevant information. If this is personal to you in some way and an adverse decisin is made seek help from a welfare benefits expert.

elsien

Thank you.
The DWP do have the facts, but as I say the corporate appointee does believe they will be asked to repay, from their contact with DWP so far.
It is personal in that I care about what happens to the person and do not wish to see them being moved from a place that they are settled and happy, but I am not likely to be able to be involved in the financial decision making or appeal process.
Thanks for clarifying things for me - I think perhaps a call to social services may be the possible next step.

suelees1

The only reason I asked if it was personal to you was so I could point you in the direction of getting some help. If it's decided to recover from the care home and this means this person is moved out that would be terrible. I would definitely advise them to ask the DWP to waive recovery. It's a sticky old situation and I think yes you might be right to have a chat with SS to see what they have to say - they'll probably tell you to wait until a decision has been made.

Here's some info on the DWP policy on waiving recovery

http://www.cpag.org.uk/cro/wrb/wrb190/overpayments.htm