Appointee question

Hello David - I see there are a couple of questions about Appointees that you have answered that have raised a question from me. I am my son’s Appointee, I have a copy of my form BF56. Currently all my son’s benefits go into my bank account and I pass money into his bank account.

When I claim UC for my son I was going to request that the UC is paid to my son, and the rent directly to the landlord under the Alternative Payment Arrangements as, quite frankly, I have enough to do being a Carer for my son without getting involved with paying the rent - currently Housing Benefit does that.

However, I see you quote in your response to the Appointee questions that:

"The appointee becomes fully responsible for acting on the claimant’s behalf in all the claimant’s dealings with the Department. This includes: · collecting / receiving benefit payments and reporting changes in circumstances"

Does that mean I can’t ask for son’s UC to be paid to him and the rent to landlord ?

Is it a better idea to get it all paid to me as son’s current benefits are ?

What happens if something happens to me (death) and I can’t pass the rent on to landlord and the money to son which he needs as my bank account would be frozen ?

Hi David - thank you for your reply. Further issue:

I have just phoned the Citizen's Advice line because earlier I had looked at the Caerphilly copy of the UC claim form. In the section named Bank Account for the UC to be paid into I would put my bank account details (like I do on my son's PIP and ESA) and it asks if this is someone else's account, ie not the claimant's, my son's, and asks why, so I would write Appointee's account.

Then in the next section of the claim form, Money, Savings and Investments, it opens with details of the account they will pay UC into - that will be my account and asks how much money is in that account. Then it goes on to 'Your other current accounts' and asks "do you have any other current accounts ?" Citizens Advice says that where I would put in my son's current account as they clearly don't want to know my other current accounts, but there's nowhere to write the name of the account holder, ie my son, and it only asks for last four digits of the account....it's the same with savings accounts, my son has a small savings account but it only asks for last four digits of the account. I get the impression a lot can go wrong with a claim when these things are not clear for the assessor.

Consider an appointee bank account. The account is in my son's name, his benefits go into it but I have control. To set one up we had to take the BF57 form into the bank with proof of identity and find someone in the bank who understood about appointees, which was not an easy task ! But it means his benefits and standing orders will continue if I die as it is his account, not mine, and whoever becomes the new appointee would have to arrange to take it over.

I'd never heard of that dancer 22 - I just looked on Lloyds bank and there is information about it !

"The DWP will issue an Appointee with a BF57 form to confirm their appointment. This document should be presented along with suitable identification to register the Appointeeship with us. A new account is opened in the name of the account holder. A debit/ATM card is available on this account on request.
An Appointee only has authority to manage the benefit payments on the designated account opened. If the Appointee needs to manage other finances they will need to seek advice on other options which would be more suitable, such as Power of Attorney or Deputyship Order"

I will do this once things are resolved with my son's moving and the work we have to do with that, and then with this claim for Universal Credit since its a move to a different borough so my son won't get Housing benefit anymore. I'll need a break from things for a while but organising this would take a load off my mind...I'm not getting any younger !