Government run power of attorney? Vulnerable adult with nobody to act.

[MarmiteChocolate]

My mum's friend is late 70s, and is power of attorney for her sister who has Parkinsons. Let's call mum's friend Jane and her sister is Kate.

Jane has put carers in place 24/7 for Kate who lives at home, 2 hours drive away. Kate is self funding all her care.

Jane now seems to be developing dementia of some sort and has been having memory losses and absences (got lost recently in her own village etc). Jane realises she needs to give up driving and that she cannot act for Kate any more, either in terms of Power of Attorney or organising her carers.

There are no other siblings, and neither Jane nor Kate have children.

Social services weren't interested before as Kate is wealthy and self funds. This is still the case. However, Jane cannot oversee and organise the carers for much longer. What happens if someone who is ill/vulnerable (such as Kate) literally has nobody? Is there a state appointed power of attorney or something?

Any advice would be super helpful - thanks in advance.

You'd need to contact the Office of the Public Guardian who can tell you the score.

I know something about this but not quite enough...

I do know that it is possible to give up being an attorney for someone.

There is also a thing called an Independent Mental Capacity Advocate or IMCA who can be appointed for people without mental capacity for important matters.

Others will know more....

OPG can appoint a solicitor or some other professional person to act. Not quite sure how it works if there's no money.

Does Jane have a Lasting Power of Attorney for Health & Wellbeing or Property & Financial Affairs (or both?). Jane can relinquish her LPA if she is no longer able to act, but does Kate still have mental capacity to appoint a new LPA? If so, many solicitor's firms can act as LPA (for a cost). If not, the Court of Protection can appoint a Deputy to fulfil this role but it isn't a quick or easy process.

You don't mention if Kate has the ability to make a new LPOA if she wishes which is the most important piece of information needed.

Ultimately though Jane can and should relinquish her LPOA if she is no longer able to manage to fulfill her role.

Yes the state can take over but it is a lengthy process and if Kate is wealthy then a court appointed solicitor will be appointed to manage what Jane is currently doing and this will be at Kate's expense. For people who are less wealthy (e.g have less than £5000 in savings) the Local Authority will usually act as their deputy as it amounts to the same role as a DWP appointeeship.

That's only if Kate can't decide what she wants to happen herself.

If Kate is still able to decide what she wants to happen she can appoint her own solicitor to act for her and leave clear instructions about how she wants her money to be used to care for her.

Are there really no other trusted adults available to take over?

If there is no money then its the Local Authority who is appointed by the court to be a corporate deputy.

Thanks ladies, I knew you guys would know! Will get onto the suggestions tomorrow.
Kate isn't able to consent/litigate/understand anything now sadly. She wrote a will before her illness which sets out her wishes I believe. The worry is that she depended on Jane to oversee everything and deal with probate, inheritance etc and it now seems Jane may not be able.
Will report back on how we get on, and thanks again.

Have a look at The Friendly Trust

Social services are responsible, is there a relative even distant that can alert social services where each lives of the situation?

A solicitor can also be appointed if there is still capacity to instruct

No. There is a distant cousin who lives in Thailand I think it is. Very small family and all led quite reclusive lives with limited friendships. Neither married or had children.

The issue here is one on mental capacity.

You can only appoint someone as your POA when you have capacity. Most people also appoint multiple or secondly POA's in case their main person themselves loses capacity.

If your POA no longer has capacity or cannot continue in the role they (or their representative needs to inform the OPG (office of the public guardian).

The alternative to POA is a deputyship. This is appointed/managed by the court of protection. An individual can apply to be a deputy but it's far more expensive than a POA and usually only done when a person does not have a POA and no longer has capacity.

In this case I would recommend the POA contacts both the OPG and adult social services to say she can no longer act at POA.

The local authority can then apply to the court of protection and will appoint a deputy to manage the sisters affairs.

A deputyship is audited annually and actually is more secure and less open to abuse than a POA so the sister should not feel her sister would be more vulnerable in this situation.

Hope that helps.

Sorry re: typos. On phone :-)

This caught my eye because my mother is in the same position with no-one to act. After discussions, it was decided the only way was to leave it to social services to sort out (hopefully in consultation with her children). Sometimes there really is no-one to act.

OP I assume the LPA makes no provision for a replacement attorney should Jane be unable or unwilling to continue as attorney? Assuming not (as that is an obvious solution) and as Kate appears unable to decide to donate a new LPA (replacing Jane) then Jane needs to plan for renouncing the LPA role.
If Kate has means (eg property or a reasonable level of savings) Jane may wish to approach one of the solicitors in Kate's locality who are on the OPG panel of professional deputies COP Panel Deputies

They will be able to apply to court for their own appointment as deputy to be coordinated (in terms of timings) with Jane stepping down thus avoiding a "gap" in terms of Kate being without anyone managing her affairs. (N.B this relates only to property and financial affairs, there is no panel for Health & Welfare)