Office of public guidance investigation

[Spendysis]

I raised my concerns with opg regarding my dsis taking dm money in January and they agreed to investigate finally it has been assigned to an investigator any idea in the process how long it will take are they able to get bank statements and if they find out she has been abusing her poa what can they do?

It’s guardian not guidance. They can get court orders for any bank statements if they don’t provide statements. Not sure on timeframe. If there’s been financial abuse they can remove poa and refer to police

Sorry about the typo my phone auto corrected and it wouldn't let me amend the title
If dsis is removed as poa do they select another poa or does dm as I think she has capacity. I am nc with dsis and because of all this have a strained relationship with dm so although I was previously equal poa until dsis convinced DM to remove me I don't think I want to do it now

I normally only deal with people who have been assessed as lacking capacity when there are concerns being referred to the OPG, so I’m not 100% sure but I would assume that if your mum has been assessed to have capacity to make financial decisions then she would be able to pick a new POA.

Also if your mum believes your dsis is financially abusing her using her POA and has capacity she should be able to have the POA removed herself if that’s what she wants

In my experience it won’t get very far if everyone agrees your mum has capacity.

They will simply advise your mum removes her.

If there is a dispute over whether she has capacity they might send someone out to assess her capacity.

I don't know if dm is deemed as having capacity or not adult social services were involved and queried her level of capacity so referred it to the police who went out said dm was fine and closed the case unless opg come up with something. Since i referred it to opg in January dsis has i believe convinced dm to do an equity release mortgage - it is on the land registry this has gone through dm told me it was for dsis. I also have an email from the first company she tried to arrange it with where dsis pretended to be dm texting then changed to her and said it was for her to tide her over. Dm cant text and probably didn't know lifetime mortgages existed she's had her change her will and now dm doesn't invite me in the house so I am unable to discuss anything as it will all be recorded on the door bell connect to dsis phone

So no idea if this is for opg social services or the police. Dsis has registered the poa with the bank and dm account has been changed to a poa account but rather than just using the card for shopping dsis has been transferring large amounts to her own account for her own personal spending. I was joint poa but got removed i presume dsis arranged this for dm when it came to light £10k had been transferred out of the account in 6 months this was before poa was registered with the bank she did it on the bank app. Dsis then blocked me and my family excluded me form family events doesn't update me on dm health etc so yes i believe dm is being financially abused coerced and isolated from me and her only gc

If you’re not getting anything back from
OPG I would also now speak to local adult social services team re. The safeguarding concern.

this is sadly very common and I have dealt with a good few of these cases.
Adult siblings with differing points of view accusing each other of financial abuse (or one accusing the other).

it’s very difficult and a good social worker will put your mum at the heart of it and try to establish her views and feelings.

Sadly the older person in the middle often feels loyal to both parties and “stuck in the middle” and it can be very distressing for them.

Raise it with everyone you can. Social care as it is a safeguarding, and to the police again. If they close it ask for their complaints process and escalate it. If they are saying she has capacity ask if they’ve completed a formal capacity assessment. If there’s any concerns about her capacity raise it. Capacity is decision specific and if there’s reason to question it they cannot simply say she has capacity without completing an assessment. Ultimately your mum may be choosing to go along with it but if there’s any form of pressure or coercion then this needs to be stopped.