Managing someone else's affairs
The ways in which you can represent someone or manage their affairs depends on whether they have the mental capacity to do it themselves or not. Further details about how to check someones mental capacity can be found on the Gov.UK website.
Care decisions
If you have the mental capacity to make your own decisions we can only give you care and support if you agree to it. If someone else calls on your behalf we will need to speak to you to check that you are happy with any actions being taken and you will need to sign the documents yourself.
If you are worried about the future, you can grant someone to be your power of attorney for health and welfare which means that they will be able to make decisions for you if you lose your mental capacity.
If you do not have the mental capacity to make your own decisions, either your power of attorney or deputy can make these decisions for you. If you do not have either of these we will still act in your best interest to ensure that your needs are met.
Financial decisions and paying for care
If you have the mental capacity to make your own decisions but you want someone else to manage your money and paying for care you can:
- nominate someone to help you (but you will still need to sign documents yourself) by filling out a nomination form with your social worker
- grant someone as your power of attorney for property and financial affairs
- make someone your appointee so they can manage your pension and benefits
However, if you lack mental capacity, we will be unable to complete a financial assessment, or give you help to pay unless you have someone to legally represent you.
You can only be legally represented by:
- your power of attorney
- your appointee (but they cannot make decisions about any properties you own)
- your deputy for property and finances
Lasting Power of Attorney
The person you choose to do this will depend on your situation. If you wish, you can officially appoint someone you trust to make decisions for you.
LPAs allow you to appoint a trusted person to make decisions about your personal welfare, including social care, healthcare and consent to medical treatment, and/or your property and financial affairs. An LPA is only valid once registered with the Office of the Public Guardian.
The Court of Protection can issue Orders directing the management of a person’s property and financial affairs if they are incapable of managing their own affairs should they not have an LPA. The Court procedure is currently very slow and the fees are quite expensive so preparing an LPA in advance is always advisable, providing you have somebody sufficiently trustworthy to appoint as your attorney.
Appointees
It's free to become an appointee to manage a person's benefits and pensions. You can have those paid into a bank account that you can manage for them.
Being an appointee is sometimes limiting as not all banks will allow you access to the person's accounts and not all private pension companies will deal with you. You will also not be able to make decisions about any properties the person owns.
Deputies
You can pay a fee and apply to become someone's deputy which means you'll be able to access, manage and make financial decisions for them. You will also need to apply to become an appointee to manage any benefits they get.
You can apply to the Court of Protection to get an urgent or emergency court order in certain circumstances where someone is applying for deputyship. Urgent applications must be for a specific reason, such as where someone's life or welfare is at risk or to access money from the person's bank to pay care fees.