Bank Account Access for an Appointee whose recipient lives in Care

JoeySwanNeedsHelp

Morning,

I work in care and have a number of individuals whose parents act as appointee for the benefits, this is not a question regarding the use of the money, this is looking for help with banks that will help the appointees open a bank account and give the individual we support a debit card, so that we can support them day to day, when making purchases.

Example - Individual A lives with us in a 52 week placement and does not have full capacity around their own finances, apart from knowing they need to hand money over or use a card to get an item when out and about. Their parent is appointee and receives the benefits into a separate account from their own and has previously provided us with a card to access the account, however this debit card is named as the parent, not the individual, hence we can not use it, as the parent is not present when we use the card, nor the individual re

Parent has spoken to a number of banks who won't open them an account without A-the individual being there and able to sign or B-the parent being Court appointed deputy. Parent is not in a position currently to apply for CaD.

I am aware of online agencies such as DOSH, but there charge of £20 a week to manage would be too much of a financial strain.

Thanks

MyRealNameToo

Parents dont have an automatic right to act for their adult children even if they lack capacity, banks also have obligations around things like money laundering and so need to also be certain of who their customer is from that perspective.

The Deputy/PoA process is the recognised mechanisms for one person to be able to act on behalf of another without their consent, it has the necessary safeguards and protections to prevent abuse. Whilst the government may be willing to take certain risks in doing stuff without this private companies are going to be more risk adverse and stick by normal operating procedures.

Presumably the account in question is currently in the name of the parent?

Starling and Barclays are the only current accounts I know of that allow an additional card to be issued to someone who is not an account holder though https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/delegated-spending-cards/ suggests there are more options.

Getting a secondary cardholder on a credit card is much easier but if you are going to want to be using it to get cash then thats not a good idea

JoeySwanNeedsHelp

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82008441#Comment_82008441

Thank you for the suggestions.

Parent is already appointee (not something we currently need to contest) and is good at bringing us cash to use with the individual, however with more and more places becoming cashless it is now causing issues.

Yes, the account is in the name of the parent, like I say, they did give us a card to access the money, but the card was in Mums name.

I will share the Starling and Barclays details and go from there.

Nebulous2

I've previously been in that situation, where we were responsible for providing care for people who did not have capacity, and often had appointees elsewhere.

We set up in trust accounts in the persons name, though these became increasingly hard to get, and I'm not currently up to date with how easy that process is now.

So the account would say the name of the care company in trust for the person. Like:-

ABC Care in trust for Joe Bloggs.

The parents can pay money in on a regular basis, or get the benefits paid directly into it, and they can get statements / receipts etc to check how the money is being spent.

It's hard to do anything that works without the care company taking some responsibility. They will have liability for the actions of their staff for instance. Although rare, misappropriation does occur, and the company should have checks and balances, including audits, to ensure their staff are monitored.

elsien

FWIW Deputyship is generally not cost effective and is usually unnecessary for someone whose only income is benefits.

The corporate appointee in our area uses a Soldo card, but that does have an ongoing charge.

Do the people concerned have enough understanding to open a basic bank account? That would allow them to have a debit card but they won’t be able to go overdrawn. I work with some people who lack capacity around finances as a but can manage a simple bank account.

Other option is a prepaid card of some sort?

simongregson

We have recently been looking into this as our son will transfer to adult care soon so this is what we have

Nationwide will help set up an appointee account for the parents to receive benefits on behalf of someone else, neeneed to go in branch with the appointee letter and the appropriate id. The account wil be in the appointee name but will note the money is held on behalf of the recipient. But parents have hopefully already done this or similar with another bank if they are receiving benefits on behalf of an adult.

Unfortunately the appointee can't just hand over the card to the account as they are managing the money on behalf of someone who isn't able to. The starling card mentioned however is fantastic for this as this can be topped up to a maximum of a couple of hundred pounds and then given to anyone the appointee wants to give permission to, it is also free which is better than a lot of prepaid cards, and the appointee can see each transaction to keep an eye on things, can cancel the card or freeze it etc.