Appointeeship

[RussianDoll76]

Hi , My DM is in a care home and I have been asked about an appointeeship . This came about after a call from the attendee allowance dept. My question is does anybody know if I take on an appointeeship for her what this would entail ? I have asked if there are any overpayments that need to be paid back They have been very vague . If there are would I be liable for these overpayments? I have directed these questions to them but I never receive a direct response if any at all. Hope someone can help . TIA

Do you mean Deputyship through the Court of Protection? I’m assuming here that your DM no longer has capacity and is therefore unable to manage her finances to pay for her care home. I have been in this exact situation with my stepfather. I applied for Deputyship through a solicitor. His care home fees came out of his pension plus an LA contribution. I was able to have his state pension paid to me so I could pay that part of his fees - it’s quite easy to do this, you don’t need Deputyship. Once I did receive Deputyship, I was able to sell his home and access other funds in order to pay his care home fees. If I hadn’t been able to do this, it would just have meant that any fees the LA paid would be reimbursed from his estate.

I forgot to add, I wasn’t responsible for any payments although I did pay for the Deputyship application up front then claimed it back from him once it was granted.

Hi @Soontobe60 Thank you for your reply. A deputyship is different to an appointeeship. An appointeeship is just for the dwp to pay for care using her benefits . I believe a with a deputy ship there is more control .
The appointeeship is being sought by the dwp which is why I am nervous .
thank you again .

As far as I'm aware an appointeeship is just as you say, it's to act as a respresentative for DWP to deal with on behalf of the benefit recipient.

Do you have access to your mothers finances via an LPA ?

Is she currently self funded or are the Local authority paying for her care ?

If the former then she'd be entitled to Attendance Allowance, if the latter then not. If she's gone from one category to the other but no-one's told DWP and the payments have continued then they might be looking for repayment, but it should come from your mother - I can't see how they can force you to pay it yourself, but if this is the case then in these circumstances I'd not agree to act as appointee.

In that case, I was also his appointeeship!
The DWP paid me his pension each month - I opened a separate bank account for it to be paid into. I would then receive the monthly care home invoice from the Local Authority and pay his proportion of it. Very straightforward.

My concern is that it hasn’t been an issue until now but now they’re pressing me to sign things which is fine but I do not want to do this if I will become responsible if there have been any overpayments. I have asked them outright and they will not give me a definitive answer which is making me suspicious. 🤨

Could the Citizens Advice Bureau help?

Do you have a financial LPA for your mum? In which case you wouldn't need to be an appointee as well.

Is she a self funder in the care home?

Thank you all for your help . I think i have it all sorted now 😁