Make decisions on behalf of someone else
How you can make decisions about someone's care and paying for it.
How to represent someone
You can be involved in decisions about someone's care and finances. How you represent them depends on whether they have mental capacity or not.
Mental capacity is their ability to understand information and make decisions about things that affect their life.
Someone who has mental capacity
If someone has mental capacity this means they can make their own decisions. We can provide care and support to them, but only if they agree to it.
If you contact us on their behalf, we will also need to speak to them. We will need to check that they agree with any action we take. They will also need to sign documents to confirm they are happy with any care or financial decisions.
They may want to prepare for the future, and ask someone they trust to have power of attorney. This gives you permission to make decisions about your money, property or care if you become unable to.
Decisions about finances and paying for care
If they want you to manage their money and how they pay for care, they can:
- nominate you to help (they will need to sign documents to confirm they agree to this)
- grant you power of attorney
- make you an appointee so you can manage their pension and benefits
Someone who does not have mental capacity
If someone does not have mental capacity, you can only make decisions for them if you:
If you do not have either of these, you cannot make decisions for them. Instead, we will be responsible for acting in their best interests.
Decisions about finances and paying for care
We cannot complete a financial assessment for someone who does not have mental capacity unless they have someone to legally represent them.
You can legally represent them if you have:
- power of attorney over their finances and property
- appointeeship over their finances (this does not include property)
- deputyship for property and finances
Find someone else to help
If you do not want to be responsible for someone's finances when they lose mental capacity, you will need to seek legal advice.
After a mental capacity assessment, the person's social worker can ask the council to manage their finances on their behalf. The council can apply for appointeeship or deputyship, but this is usually a last resort.
Appointee
It’s free to apply to become an appointee.
An appointee manages a person's benefits and state pensions.
Appointees have limited powers and are not usually able to access the person’s bank accounts or private pensions.
An appointee can receive a person's benefits and state pension income, and organise how it is spent.
This must be for the welfare of the individual and only because they cannot manage their own money.
You will not be able to make any decisions about the person's property.
Deputy
You will need to pay a fee to apply to become a deputy.
Deputies can access and manage all of someone's money and make financial decisions for them.
Deputies act in the best interest of the person they are Deputy for. They have legal responsibilities to report on their decisions and how the person's money is being spent.
To manage someone's benefits and state pension, you will also need to apply for appointeeship.
Get agreement from the council
For the council to accept a request for appointeeship or deputyship, approval must be given by the council's head of adult social care.
If you need more information about whether you meet the criteria for appointeeship or deputyship, there are some organisations you can speak to. They include: