Appointeeship while waiting for deputyship?

[tabon]

Hi all,

First post on this forum but it's been invaluable and in future I will post more to try to share some of my experiences that may be of use to others.

But firstly - and apologies if this has been answered elsewhere but I can't find anything in a simple search - can anybody please help confirm that it is ok to apply for appointeeship with the DWP whilst waiting for the outcome of a deputyship application (already submitted)? Note that we have not said anywhere in the deputyship application that we planned to apply for appointeeship, as we only thought of this afterwards. Do we need to alert the CoP/OPG?

The context is that we're finding it impossible to find a decent care home placement for our dad as the LA is being extremely strict on finances (they are pretty broke), despite currently paying well over the odds for his (unsuitable) care home (long story, but basically his care needs decreased after coming off misprescribed medication).
They agreed to step-down from nursing to residential care (only because we flagged the issue!!), but they are nitpicking at costs and insist we pay top ups for any home we find with a room available that is semi-decent, even though these are very reasonably priced. All their cheapest, "block-bed" booked homes (N.B. this is when the LA makes a deal with the care home provider to house lots of residents for reduced cost) they offered so far are dire, with bad CQC reports, or otherwise unsuitable for his care needs.

So, we need access to his pension to pay top-ups, and fast, but deputyship may take ages.

He's yet to claim his pension so we'd have that additional step to initiate pension payments even after becoming appointee or deputy, but hopefully that doesn't take too long...

Thanks in advance for anyone who can confirm they have done this in the past!

 

[nitram]

it is ok to apply for appointeeship with the DWP whilst waiting for the outcome of a deputyship application (already submitted)?

Yes, OK to apply, deputyship application is only a request, when granted the appointeeship can be cancelled as no longer required.

 

[SkyeD]

Hi @tabon , just a quickie from my experience - I was appointed as 'DWP Appointee' on 31st January 2023. The lovely guy who organised it (met me, met my mum and awarded it that day) took my bank details and said that payments would be made direct to my account instead of my mum's. By the time it was all processed, it was 12th June 2023 before they started to pay mum's pension into my account. She sadly died on 13th June.

Again from my experience, it wasn't a quick process. Other forum members may have have had a quicker timescale.

My application for Deputyship was also in progress - unfortunately mum died before that was granted.

I ended up with no access to funds (to pay care home fees) until after probate, which was October 2023.

S x

 

[thistlejak]

So, we need access to his pension to pay top-ups, and fast, but deputyship may take ages.

Just a quick note - usually you can't use his money to pay top -ups , the money has to come from a third party

 

[tabon]

Hi all, thanks for your helpful responses.
@nitram that's good to confirm.

Sorry for your loss, @SkyeD - everything is so unpredictable with this illness.. and it's tough to sort out all these financial aspects alongside everything. I do often wonder how long our dad has left to live, as he's been pretty stable but had a big deterioration step last year.

Maybe I'm wrong in thinking appointeeship ia a particularly fast process but the hope is that it's faster than deputyship at least (we've recently had to resubmit a form after gathering more info for the COP1a).

@thistlejak thanks for raising this point, I had no idea. I had more of a read about this in other posts and it seems like S117 funding (which he has) is an exception to the rule and allows for first party payments. But I'll triple-check!

In all honestly reading more about top ups has made me nervous about feeling forced into paying, given rising costs and uncertain life expectancy as well as uncertainty over who's liable to pay for the cost increases..
Will try to go for something fully LA covered if we can find anything decent. Fingers crossed.

 

[tabon]

Hi all, thanks for your helpful responses.
@nitram that's good to confirm.

Sorry for your loss, @SkyeD - everything is so unpredictable with this illness.. and it's tough to sort out all these financial aspects alongside everything. I do often wonder how long our dad has left to live, as he's been pretty stable but had a big deterioration step last year.

Maybe I'm wrong in thinking appointeeship ia a particularly fast process but the hope is that it's faster than deputyship at least (we've recently had to resubmit a form after gathering more info for the COP1a).

@thistlejak thanks for raising this point, I had no idea. I had more of a read about this in other posts and it seems like S117 funding (which he has) is an exception to the rule and allows for first party payments. But I'll triple-check!

In all honestly reading more about top ups has made me nervous about feeling forced into paying, given rising costs and uncertain life expectancy as well as uncertainty over who's liable to pay for the cost increases..
Will try to go for something fully LA covered if we can find anything decent. Fingers crossed.

 

[nitram]

it seems like S117 funding (which he has) is an exception to the rule

Correct, it's one of three situations where first party tops up are allowed.
The other two are twelve week disregard and deferred payment agreement if written into agreement.

 

[canary]

I had more of a read about this in other posts and it seems like S117 funding (which he has) is an exception to the rule and allows for first party payments. But I'll triple-check!

Yes, it is an exception to the rule