Appointeeship and Deputyship – support with your finances

Appointeeship - Managing benefits on somebody else's behalf

At Cornwall Council we manage the finances of people who are unable to do this for themselves and have no one else who is willing or able to do this for them. The Council offers Appointeeship for people living in residential care, or in the community.

Appointeeship may be the best course of action if the person: 

• has a low level of financial assets
• is in receipt of benefits
  and
• does not have any other sources of income

Depending on the person’s financial circumstances, it may be that Deputyship is a better option

What is an appointeeship?

An Appointee is someone who manages a person’s benefits.

When someone is no longer able to manage their finances a social work practitioner can make an application. This is made to the Cornwall Council Appointee and Deputyship Service. 

Appointeeship is granted by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) upon application by the Council.

We will then act as Corporate Appointee by collecting a person’s state benefits and making payments from these monies. These payments may be for: 

• care charges
• personal allowance
• other items considered to be in the person’s best interests

As Corporate Appointee we may also help with paying other bills or utilities. However we may seek your consent for this.

Appointees only manage a person’s benefits. Any other sources of income or substantial savings, the Council as Appointee, cannot control. In these circumstances an application for Deputyship may be more appropriate.

Who can have an appointee?

Appointeeship can be granted for

• people in long term residential care
• people living in the community, including Shared Lives accommodation

We will apply for Appointeeship only in the following situations:

• There are allegations of financial abuse and a Safeguarding referral has been made in relation to these allegations
• The person  has been assessed  as no longer having capacity to manage their finances by a social work practitioner. This is via completion of a Mental Capacity Assessment
• The person is severely physically disabled & unable to access the community
• There must be no one else who is willing or suitable to act for the person
• The person has only state benefits, little or no other income, savings or assets

Before an application for Appointeeship can be accepted, the social work practitioner must ensure there is a mechanism in place. This is so that the person can access the money. This could be:

• collecting a Post Office voucher
• having support to go to a cash machine from family members, support providers or their social care worker

The Appointee Service does not include the provision of cash. All transactions are carried out electronically. The person will be issued with a cash card which will be loaded on a daily / weekly basis by the Appointee Service.

Timescales

On average the process takes 8 to 12 weeks for Appointeeship to be granted by the DWP.

Appointees Fees

Our fees will enable us to continue to support and improve services for you. These fees are reviewed annually.

The Appointee fees applied are:

• If your individual Appointee bank account is in credit by £1000 or more, a fee will be payable
• If your balance is between £1001 and £2000, the fee is £1 a week
• If your balance is between £2001 and £16,000, and you live in the community, the fee is £13 a week
• If your balance is between £2001 and £16,000, and you live in permanent residential care, the fee is £8 a week
• If your balance is over £16,001, we will consider if appointeeship is appropriate to continue. We may apply to the Court of Protection for Deputyship to manage your finances

If we cease to provide an Appointee service and someone else takes over as appointee, we will charge a fee of £224 to end our service. In the event of someone passing away we will charge an administration fee of £300 to pay any remaining bills and close the account.

We also charge for Deputyship fees which include application to the Courts and annual reporting costs.

The fee will be collected quarterly on approximately 1 July, 1 October, 1 January and 1 April of each financial year.