Helping a vulnerable relative - where do I start?

Wanna_Bee_Free

Thanks Elsien. Universal credit application in. New bank account opened unconnected with her debts - 2 big steps in the right direction I hope?

Next steps for Little Sis:
Claim council tax reduction when UC claim letter comes through
Cancel any remaining payments on her 3 overdrawn current accounts ( untilities DDs changed to father's account for now)
Separately contact all these companies about stopping their services - is this necessary or optional if we cancel DDs?
Ask her to open post at least weekly and ignore calls and texts - really worried about her on this one
MH assessment postponed to Monday - please let something helpful come out of it

And with my father
Discuss LPA and third party authority again on a calm day - if we ever get one of those

Wanna_Bee_Free

The elephant in the room is the mortgage. 

elsien

Cancelling a direct debit doesn’t cancel the contract. So if she’s ending any unnecessary contracts, then she does need to let them know that As well as stopping the direct debit. 

There is a template letter floating around here somewhere that she can use to tell people  not to communicate with her by phone, 

She has to take some responsibility for this, even if she’s unwell. And just in case she mentions you being her power of attorney again you couldn’t act for both her and your father. It would be too much of a conflict of interest in the circumstances. I would  that he remains the priority. Because if he becomes ill and can’t manage his own money she’s going to be completely stuffed on all the other bills anyway. 

RAS

Little sis also needs to claim Support with Mortgage Interest. 

I'd suggest you ask about this on the benefits board.

I understand that in the very short term this will cover the interest paid on the mortgage but not the capital component. Obviously the mortgage provider needs to be told.

But thereafter it becomes a loan, so has to be repaid when the house is sold. 

But it's a decade since I've known anyone using it, so please, please check first with the benefits board and secondly with CAB or similar locally. MIND might also be useful.

elsien

According to this, she needs to be getting universal credit for three months before she would get anything. 
https://www.gov.uk/support-for-mortgage-interest

KxMx

There isn't any such thing as a "UC claim letter".
The first payment statement will be available in a little over 4 weeks.

If she applied online then she will need to log in to her account (known as the Journal) regularly, especially as a new claim can be quite busy at the beginning. 

Each time there is something for her to review an email/text will be sent. 
The Journal has a "To Do" list where appointments, information they need, etc get added. 
For Journal claims nothing comes through the post, any letters get added electronically to the Journal. 

Her monthly UC payment should be around £240, which is made up of approximately £400 Standard Allowance, £200 Carers Element, minus Carers Allowance £360 (UC is a monthly benefit so the deduction is for a months worth - 4.3 weeks). 

CA gets deducted from the UC because they are both income replacement benefits, and under the welfare system a person is entitled to one income replacement benefit only. 

Wanna_Bee_Free

ooh, great thanks for all the warnings about the bear traps ahead and things to find out. Lots of helpful advice. 
i have skimmed today and will reread in detail soon. Thanks all of you for sharing your knowledge, it's much valued here. I didn't even think about a conflict of interest acting as authority for both of them.  The journal stuff for UC sounds like exactly what she finds a huge struggle at the moment. 

 Thanks everyone. 

KxMx

It is possible to have what's called an appointee set up, someone (not necessarily you) to manage her claim on her behalf. 

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

EssexHebridean

Hey WBF, I'm glad to see you're getting so much help here with this stuff, it really sounds like an awful situation.

You mentioned about your sister seemingly being resistant to any solutions that are offered, yes, it's not uncommon with people in even very serious debt when they are not quite at the point of having fully had the LBM yet - we've seen it here a lot. So they have realised things are bad, and are already doing all the stressing about it (which will obviously impact on the MH aspects too) but are still in denial about the fact that they are at the point where they genuinely have to deal with it before they hit rock bottom. (Decision paralysis can also be a thing at this stage - too  many thing to think about, so rather than tackling one thing at a time, dealing with that, then moving on to the next thing, they tackle nothing because it all feels too hard). 

Wanna_Bee_Free

Hi Essex Hebridian, thanks for stopping by. Yes there have been lots of really helpful posts and things are already moving in the right direction very slowly. You've hit the nail on the head re the decision paralysis and the lightbulb moment not quite happening. I know I was in denial for years with my debt.

The good thing is her Universal Credit application went in so at least she should end up £240 a month better off as a result of asking me to help.

Tomorrow when I go she wants help with cancelling her payments and things so that is sounding promising. She should hear from the mental health team today after Monday's two hour visit. I'm dreading them saying she is entitled to talking therapy but there's a really long waiting list and it will be September before anything happens. I hope I am too cynical on this one.

Tomorrow the other thing is I need to speak to my father about POA again. And or about third party authority for his banks. So far I think he's so stressed about my sister that he can't deal with another decision himself so is procrastinating.