DWP appointee - what will it involve?

Beenie

Does anyone have experience of being an appointee and can let me know the benefits or pitfalls?

I want to be able to do online shopping and pay bills by direct debit on my mother's behalf, but using her money rather than my own. I will have to open a separate bank account (I think) so that the payments can be easily tracked, and I expect that DWP will need to know what is being spent also. Is this all I need to do?

Nannytone

I did all those things for my father-in-law just using his account details.
You only need to become an appointee if your mother lacks mental capacity to be able to deal with her own finances/B]

TELLIT01

You can only become an appointee if the other party (your mother in this instance) is incapable of managing their own financial affairs. Is that the case with your mother?
Somebody from DWP will have to meet with you and your mother to establish (a) if she needs an appointee and (b) to determine if you are an appropriate person to take on the role.

lisyloo

I am an appointee for my MIL but I only fill out forms on her behalf and don't handle money.
They visit my MIL in her nursing home and talk to her.
She has dimensia but I'm confident that she tells them she has no money and has had a very hard life.

Downsides are family issues, so for that reason I would recommend having a record of everything (this might be just printing out statements before they dissapear online).
DWP do not generally need to know about spending.
If you were asking for increased benefits and claiming capital had decreased then they'd ask where the mony had gone, but if benefits stay the same they do not need to know about on-going budgetting.

Being fully accountable is a good idea in case you ever need to prove it.

The only downside really is the time spent.
Someone will want to visit both of you to verfiy that you are capable and that she is not.

They wanted to visit me at home during working hours which was tricky for me (I live and work in central london where travel times are very slow).
In the end they agreed to visit me at my office.

KxMx

If you look at OPs previous threads you will see her Mum does lack capacity.

lisyloo

I did all those things for my father-in-law just using his account details.

Using his card (PIN) or using his on-line account is technically illegal.
I understand completely why you would do this (and we have done it too), so it's not a criticism, just pointing out to the OP that it isn't legal UNLESS you have a 3rd party arrangement with the bank or (I think what the OP is suggesting) is her mothers benefits paid directly to her.

This is not the appointee arrangement I have where I am dealing with paperwork only, so might be best to establish exactly what they mean by being appointee (yes I know what it says online).

Beenie

Yes, mother has dementia and has been visited by DWP to establish that appointeeship is in her best interests.

I am still waiting for my home interview - the delay due to me being on holiday, then the bad weather preventing the visiting officer getting around.

Mother has a bank account where her benefits are currently being paid, but the huge frustration has been that she doesn't or can't go into town to visit the bank. I visit her as often as I can, and we go together to pay her bills, but the bank will only do that when she, the customer, is present. It's too late for POA due to her dementia. Poor lady has an attention span of 10-15 minutes max. It is like looking after a happy child......

Nannytone

lisyloo wrote: »

Using his card (PIN) or using his on-line account is technically illegal.
I understand completely why you would do this (and we have done it too), so it's not a criticism, just pointing out to the OP that it isn't legal UNLESS you have a 3rd party arrangement with the bank or (I think what the OP is suggesting) is her mothers benefits paid directly to her.

This is not the appointee arrangement I have where I am dealing with paperwork only, so might be best to establish exactly what they mean by being appointee (yes I know what it says online).

We had an arrangement with the bank. the account was still in my father in Law's sole name but I had my own bank card for that account
We couldn't have a joint account as I receive benefits myself and couldn't risk the DWP thinking that his mummy was also mine.

He had given written permission to the council and the DWP to talk to me about his benefit entitlement