Power of attorney or “Deputy” for autistic adults son getting into debt

[belleadele]

Morning,
my adult step son (excuse the title typo “adults”) who lives with us is autistic and for the past 5 years has been getting into more and more debt. He has a full time job but this month ran out of money after a week, we couldn’t understand how but then admitted he had been online gambling. He has applied for loans and been rejected due to his credit score (he has a loan at high interest he took out for a motorbike that he has stopped paying etc.) . I don’t think this is ever going to stop so we’re thinking of ways to restrict his ability to borrow more/waste money. From what I’ve read becoming a Deputy might be an answer or power of attorney but he would have to agree to that. Does anybody have any experience of this? We’re trying to avoid him getting into more debt and even losing access to a bank account in the future, ideally his salary would be paid to his dad and he’d give him a weekly allowance but he’s refused (he agreed in the past but not anymore). Thanks a lot!

Not what you asked, but has he blocked himself from gambling? It’s not foolproof but it would also help.

It depends upon whether or not he is deemed to have capacity. You'd be surprised how high the bar is for that, which means that someone with capacity is free to make their own decisions regardless of how poor those decisions are.

Is he capable of living independently, and if not, what is the plan for his future living arrangements?

If he is capable of holding down a job, which he clearly is, then perhaps you can look at a supporting living arrangement.

You might want to be mindful of your address being blacklisted if he is getting into debt.

He says he has yes but it’s always very hard to know what’s true with him

We need to look into supported living because there have been so so many issues with him living with us . Maybe I’ll contact our solicitor as a first step. Thanks for the advice

Not the point I know but if he lives with you,you might want to check your credit score.

You could also get the websites blocked at home (depending on the router) if you haven't already.

As previous poster said. PoA only comes into effect if the person doesn’t have mental capacity, or if the person delegates control. It doesn’t mean you automatically have control of their finances. Not sure about Deputy.

For supported living options, there are several avenues you could explore to find further information.

Adult social services
Your GP practice
Housing associations
Supported-living charities
Shelter
Local library information department
Autism charities and associations
Local church communities

Thank you everyone!

What does he do for the rest of the month if he’s gambled all of his money away in the first month?

From your description no you can’t. There’s two ways you can control finances, one is if he voluntarily allows you completing a power of attorney (must have capacity to sign it) or simply does it by himself allowing you to help him, alternatively you would need to apply to the court of protection to take over his finances but they will only allow this if he is ruled not to have capacity, nothing suggests in your post that he would meet the bar they set. Using a debt counselling service is probably the only option you have but he needs to be wanting to cooperate

As far as supported living, I doubt he meets that threshold either if he’s capable of working but adult social services are your first port of call.

Become his financial appointee with his consent...or see if there are agencies in your area that will do this for him. It costs though.

If he does agree to getting help with debt then I’d suggest using Stepchange, CAP UK or your local Citizens Advice. Lots of tge others will charge and won’t necessarily give advice that will be in his best interests.

And does he gamble through your wifi or on his phone? You could block gambling sites through your router?

For cases like him ( clearly can have a job, can ride a motorbike safely and all that) the only choice is to send him to live alone, face his own bitter decisions and grow from there. It has been the making of many such adults

You could pay an independent social worker to do a capacity assessment in relation to finances. If he has capacity and agrees to it you could apply for power of attorney. If he doesn’t have capacity you could apply for a deputyship which is much more expensive and onerous in terms of record keeping and admin.