Help re. Appointees - anyone out there with knowledge/experience please?

rosie102_2

Hi, I'm after some help please on Appointees. I have a relative living in supported housing and we have just been told that the organisation she lives with are no longer going to be appointees for their residents (they have been for years). They’ve recommended an organisation called ‘Money Carer’, or suggested we take on the responsibility ourselves. The reviews I’ve seen online don't fill me with much hope and I’ve been told by a friend that having a Social Worker as the Appointee would be the best bet. Taking on the task of managing my cousin’s finances sounds very daunting and complicated and I would really appreciate some advice from anyone that’s got some experience or knowledge of this please! Thank you

poppy12345

Becoming someone's appointee means you're responsible for receiving all the mail from DWP, filling and signing all forms. Reporting changes of circumstances and receiving their money. Once you receive their money then you give it to the person that claims the benefits.



The letters you receive will be addressed to the appointee and behalf of the claimant. You will then be able to make calls to DWP on behalf of the claimant.



The person that's the appointee at the moment will need to contact DWP to cancel before someone else can arrange to take over.



More information here on becoming an appointee.

https://www.gov.uk/become-appointee-for-someone-claiming-benefits


I've heard bad things about social services being an appointee for someone. I'm my daughters appointee and i would never let them take over.

calcotti

Given how over stretched social services are I don’t think I would be comfortable with a social worker acting as an appointee - think that would have to be a last resort. Don’t imagine they would take this on in most cases.

poppy12345

calcotti wrote: »

Given how over stretched social services are I don’t think I would be comfortable with a social worker acting as an appointee - think that would have to be a last resort. Don’t imagine they would take this on in most cases.

Completely agree. Probably the worst thing anyone can do is to let social services act as an appointee.

nicetomeetyou

I have social services financial department act as my appointee. they are based at county hall. It's called a corporate appointeeship. It's not an individual social worker that deals with my money but a separate corporation within social services. I have a person that is allocated to me there, if he isn't around somebody else deals with my financial needs.

I get a personal allowance of £100.00 a week paid into my bank account. The appointee pays all my bills directly so my PA is £100.00 just for food, my support staff help me to budget it for food. If I need something I ring or write a email to my supporting living manager and she emails my appointee (I also have his email and will write to him discreetly) The money is paid into my account the next day. With holidays I use a independent travel agent that deals with people in supported living and get him to pay for holidays directly.

Having a social services appointee is really good for me. I haven't really experienced any problems. I ables me to save money up. I don't go blowing it all when I become manic or psychotic. My appointee is professional and prompt.

Your money is safe if managed my social services. There is no finical abuse as its more monitored unlike if you have a family member manage your money. Also so company's charge to manage accounts, Social services don't.

Also they have never let me down with managing or renewing benefit entailments. I also been told it helps with benefits having a social services appointee.

calcotti

Thanks for posting nicetomeetyou, that’s very informative.

TELLIT01

I'm certainly not accusing corporate appointees of misappropriating funds, but because of the pressure on them they are not always on top of things when there is a change of circumstances. I can't remember the precise details, but when I was working on ESA we had a situation where we discovered something had changed months previous but ESA hadn't been informed. When the corporate appointees were contacted they became quite belligerent, actually saying they were very busy and couldn't be expected to be on top of every little change.

Actually, they are expected to "be on top of every little change" as that is their function. It's not a situation we came across often, and that type of reaction was even less common, but it's certainly not a faultless system.

calcotti

Of course that often happens with any claimants themselves too!

elsien

Social workers in my area don't act as appointee but there will be a contract with a local organisation who will carry out the role for a charge. This is probably who Money Carer are - where I am it's Age Uk. They will have been vetted and should do a reasonable job but at a cost.
If you wish to do it yourself you need to be aware that you are making yourself responsible for keeping DWP updated with all changes and wouid be liable for any errors.
It's not onerous if you can get clued up on benefits - I was appointee for residents at the care home I managed, but it's down to you if you want the responsibility plus keeping track of savings so they don't go over the benefits limits?
Will you also need to pay bills as well? Some appointee services do all that - utilities, council tax, the works - to ensure the person can't overspend and doesn't get into debt - you need to check with the supported living place if your relative just needs support with benefits or with all other financial aspects as well before you decide.

w06

nicetomeetyou wrote: »

I have social services financial department act as my appointee. they are based at county hall. It's called a corporate appointeeship. It's not an individual social worker that deals with my money but a separate corporation within social services. I have a person that is allocated to me there, if he isn't around somebody else deals with my financial needs.

I get a personal allowance of £100.00 a week paid into my bank account. The appointee pays all my bills directly so my PA is £100.00 just for food, my support staff help me to budget it for food. If I need something I ring or write a email to my supporting living manager and she emails my appointee (I also have his email and will write to him discreetly) The money is paid into my account the next day. With holidays I use a independent travel agent that deals with people in supported living and get him to pay for holidays directly.

Having a social services appointee is really good for me. I haven't really experienced any problems. I ables me to save money up. I don't go blowing it all when I become manic or psychotic. My appointee is professional and prompt.

Your money is safe if managed my social services. There is no finical abuse as its more monitored unlike if you have a family member manage your money. Also so company's charge to manage accounts, Social services don't.

Also they have never let me down with managing or renewing benefit entailments. I also been told it helps with benefits having a social services appointee.

Good to hear you sounding well nicetomeetyou

nicetomeetyou

My supported living company don't deal with appointeeship's. Also I don't think Mencap deal with appointeeship's either.

There are companies that specialise in appointeeship's but they charge and I don't know how reliable they are. I think you'll need to look into it throughly as having a company dealing with it might cause problems. You need to look into how long does the company take to deal with DWP correspondence. How do they fill assessment forms in if they don't know the client? Is the person allocated a person that deals with persons finances solely. Will that person accompany person to meetings? How long do they take to answer emails and the phone. If it takes ages this can be very frustrating.

With my social services appointee, if I get a ESA renewal letter he sends it to my supported living manager, she fills forms in and sends it off to DWP, she knows me best. I think if you don't have any support services having a company can cause problems as they won't know you.

Aslo for me to have a social services appointee was a long process. It took months to sort out