Help with Financial Support

For service users who cannot manage their own financial affairs due to issues with their mental capacity or because they suffer from severe physical disabilities, an appointeeship may be needed. An appointeeship allows another person to legally act for someone in administering that person's benefits. The person requiring an appointeeship will be interviewed by a representative from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), and even though the council feel that an appointeeship is required, can refuse the application.

An application for appointeeship will not be approved by customer finance if someone only requires general support in managing or collecting their benefits, or to anyone who is not in receipt of an approved care package.

What is an appointeeship?

When you or someone is no longer able to manage their finances and have no family or friends that can help or support, It may be possible for the Council to become your appointee, They will be registered with the DWP. This is called Corporate Appointeeship.

The corporate appointee will administer your finances on your behalf if:

you lack capacity to manage your own finances and/or are physical disabled
your Income consists of benefits, and you have no other major assets or income
there is no other close family member or friend willing to take this role.

St Helens Borough Council will open a bank account in your name and manage your finances by collecting benefits. They will make sure you receive the benefits you are entitled to make payments from these monies for bills, care charges, having enough money for your personal items.

Appointees only manage a person's benefits - any other sources of income or substantial savings, the council, as appointee, cannot control.

There is a charge for this service.

Who can have an appointee?

Appointeeship can be granted for people in long term residential care or for people living in the community.

The council will apply for appointeeship only in the following situations:

there are allegations of financial abuse, and a safeguarding referral has been made in relation to these allegations
the person has been assessed as no longer having capacity to manage their finances by the social work team
the person has physical disability
there is no family or friend to act for the person
the person has only state benefits, little or no other income, savings or assets

Responsibilities of an appointee

An appointee takes on full responsibility for making and maintaining any claim of benefits and for spending the benefits.

Responsibilities include:

completing all DWP forms when required
ensuring you have sufficient money to enable you to access services of your choice in the community or residential
monitoring savings levels to ensure correct benefits are being paid to you
monitoring expenditure in relation to the appointeeship bank account
maximising your benefits
completing regular audits to ensure your money is spent appropriately in the best interests of the service user
ensuring the payments of all utility bills and any other relevant bills including social care charges are covered.

What the appointee team are unable to act on

spend money without the authority from the social work team
manage other sources of income or savings
settle legacy debt accrued prior to appointeeship being authorised, unless in exceptional circumstances where back payments from DWP are due and the debt was incurred whilst waiting for the correct benefits to be paid
act as the financial representative or nominated person for someone in receipt of a direct payment
being appointee for a person's benefits does not give the council any rights to make any other financial, medical or care decisions on their behalf.

How do I apply?

If you want the council to become your appointee, please speak to your social worker and they will help you. If you do not have a social worker, please contact Contact Carers on 01744 676767.

For more information see Become an appointee for someone claiming benefits - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Timescales

On average the process takes 8 - 12 weeks for an appointeeship application to be granted by the DWP.
Money requests can take up to 5 working days
Household bills can take up to 5 working days

Corporate Appointee Charges

Under corporate appointeeship, due to amount of financial support required by the council to ensure management of appointee's financial affairs are achieved, there is an administration cost.

The charges are detailed below:

Residential & Nursing Homes - £10.00 per week
Care in the Community - £15.00 per week
If the payment is due the same day but not classed as an emergency, the service user will be charged £2.50.

Service users who receive their personal allowance by pre-paid card will have the funds loaded on the card the day after it has been processed.

End of Appointeeship

If the service user is to have the appointeeship relinquished, this decision will be made via the social work team after assessing capacity. Any money held will be transferred to the service user after confirmation from the DWP that the corporate appointeeship has ended.

If the service user dies, the corporate appointeeship duties end on the date of death and the account will be frozen. Only funeral payments can then be made from the account.

The account will be balanced, and the team will wait for further instructions from the next of kin, with relevant documents received.

If there are no family members or next of kin, the service user's estate will be transferred to bereavement/genealogist company.

Corporate deputyship

You can apply to the Court of Protection to become someone's deputy for property and financial affairs if they 'lack mental capacity'. Someone may lack mental capacity if they:

have had a serious brain injury or illness
suffer from dementia
have severe learning disabilities

Close relatives or friends will always be consulted and encouraged where possible to apply to be deputy. However, the local authority will step in if no one else does and if the client who lacks capacity has:

over £23,250 in capital and/or assets, including property or
other compelling reasons e.g., rising debt, concerns of financial abuse etc

The deputyship is a chargeable service. If the client has less than £23,250 and their income mainly comes from benefits, then we will look at applying to be their corporate appointee instead as this is less costly and intrusive for the person.

What is the deputyship process for a local authority?

Undertake a mental capacity assessment
Once the deputyship is granted by the court, an order is issued to the local authority allowing them to deal with the finances and property of the client which includes transferring all funds held in the client's name to the local authority, drawing of DWP benefits, occupational pensions etc.
A deputyship bank account will be set up by the local authority in the client's name - all transactions made are subject to strict financial controls
The deputy will arrange for an Independent Visitor to see the client annually to ensure their needs are being met, review care plans, ensure personal funds are being provided by the local authority to the care home and that these funds are spent appropriately
The deputy is required to report to the Office of the Public Guardian annually and inform them of any significant financial decisions made during the year.

The role of a deputy

Where a client has a property, the deputy will carry out a mental capacity assessment and best interest decision to determine what should happen to it, as well as consult any close family, friends and carers
Where the client requires items of equipment, furniture etc, the deputy will get an assessment done by an occupational therapist to ensure the item(s) required meets their needs and the best price is obtained
The deputy will ensure the client has personal funds available in order to pay for items such as newspapers, hairdressing, nails etc.

For more information see Court of Protection - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

End of Deputyship

The only remaining transaction is the payment of the funeral director's invoice which must be paid direct to the undertakers.

All other actions and payment of debts etc. become the responsibility of the Executor to the Will.

Where no will is identified and no next of kin is known, the local authority will request an estate research company to undertake a search to establish if a next of kin can be identified. As a last resort the estate would be referred to the Duchy of Lancaster.