Appointee

Peacewalk

Hi Guys,
I am a certified POA to a family member claiming UC.
They suffers from various mental health issues and diabetes with social anxiety and autism as well as Learning disabilities.
Can we register the Lasting power of attorney over the phone so she wouldn't have to deal with all the long correspondence from UC?
She is so panicky that even when on the road she sees a police car she freezes. Even at the shop or bus stop if there are too many people she can have a melt down. So attending job centre will be a huge challenge.
FYI: She is on lcwawra so she is exempt from looking for work.
Please advise 
Thanks

elsien

If you give them the  code, they should be able to find the LPA online, which would then negate the need for a separate appointee process. That does presume you get someone who actually understands the LPA process. 

If they get Pip, you might need to deal with that separately. 

Peacewalk

elsien said:

If you give them the  code, they should be able to find the LPA online, which would then negate the need for a separate appointee process. That does presume you get someone who actually understands the LPA process. 

So do we call them and give the LPA details? Or how do we give them? As when claimant added in Journal that we want to add an appointee they said both claimant and appointee need to attend a job centre for an appointment. But the claimant is not in anyway ready for that. As I mentioned even going shopping is too difficult for them. So what should we do?
Thanks 

elsien

Stop talking about an appointee - it will confuse them because they need to then check with the person whether they have capacity or not. Although for People who genuinely can’t go out they do have other mechanisms.

Phone them up and give them the LPA  access code.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/using-the-donors-lpa-access-codes-and-view-an-lpa

born_again

elsien said:

Stop talking about an appointee - it will confuse them because they need to then check with the person whether they have capacity or not. Although for People who genuinely can’t go out they do have other mechanisms.

Phone them up and give them the LPA  access code.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/using-the-donors-lpa-access-codes-and-view-an-lpa

Appointee is pretty easy to set up. With Mrs PIP I speak to them after she has struggled to get through security. This time the person asked am I her appointee, I said no. So she passed details to to team that deal with it.
2 months later letter & text with a appointment for them coming to house. 30 mins talking to person & details taken. All sorted on 9-06 & 20-06 her pip hits my account. As part of the appointee set up is you manage their funds. So if you go that route. Make sure you have a account that you can use just for that purpose. Means you can prove what is happening to the money a lot easier. 👍

So you have to be prepared to handle the financial side of things to be a appointee.

Peacewalk

elsien said:

Stop talking about an appointee - it will confuse them because they need to then check with the person whether they have capacity or not. Although for People who genuinely can’t go out they do have other mechanisms.

Phone them up and give them the LPA  access code.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/using-the-donors-lpa-access-codes-and-view-an-lpa

Should we call them being together or I as the poa can call myself?

elsien

You can call yourself. Presuming  the LPA is set up so it can be used when she has capacity

Peacewalk

Thanks guys you have been wonderful. I will call them Monday. On a side note. As the claimant struggles to manage her money I.e they will spend the entire amount within days as they lack financial understanding. So to save the financial pressure they send a chunk to the LPAs account and as and when they need it gets them back from the POA. Now in DWP legality is that an issue! Because it seems like they are trying to have a claim review and asked to keep the last 4 months bank statements in hand.
Kindly advise.
Thanks 

NedS

Normally an attorney would have access to and control of the donors bank account(s). Benefits would still be paid to the claimant (donor), but the attorney would support the donor or control access, depending on the donors capacity to manage their own affairs. Does the donor have access to their accounts or has this been removed as they lack capacity? Benefits should not be paid directly to the attorney (although for better or worse UC does allow benefits to be paid into an account of a friend or family member).

Universal Credit reviews are prevalent and can happen at any time.

kaMelo

Peacewalk said:

Thanks guys you have been wonderful. I will call them Monday. On a side note. As the claimant struggles to manage her money I.e they will spend the entire amount within days as they lack financial understanding. So to save the financial pressure they send a chunk to the LPAs account and as and when they need it gets them back from the POA. Now in DWP legality is that an issue! Because it seems like they are trying to have a claim review and asked to keep the last 4 months bank statements in hand.
Kindly advise.
Thanks 

On that specific point in bold above, transferring money like that is essentially the LPA sending money to themselves which I always thought was a breach of the rules.  
Much better to follow @NedS suggestion in that they have their own bank account which you as LPA control and spend their money on their behalf.. Don't intermingle their finances with your own

Peacewalk

NedS said:

Normally an attorney would have access to and control of the donors bank account(s). Benefits would still be paid to the claimant (donor), but the attorney would support the donor or control access, depending on the donors capacity to manage their own affairs. Does the donor have access to their accounts or has this been removed as they lack capacity? Benefits should not be paid directly to the attorney (although for better or worse UC does allow benefits to be paid into an account of a friend or family member).

Universal Credit reviews are prevalent and can happen at any time.

Thanks for the message buddy. The claimant have access to their account and struggles to manage it but removing access makes their mental health worse. With years of back and forth trying to save they found solace in sending it to the POA account and taking it when they need them.
And yes the POA have access to their bank account.
What's the best thing to do at this situation