Please find detailed below the DWP’s procedure when an appointee action is requested. This can happen in two ways.
1) By direct contact from your financial services team who send a BF 56 application to our department
2) On receipt of an interview report confirming the need for appointee and BF56 from one of the Joint Working Party team members (Paul I’ Anson) who work for the LA and are dual trained to carry out some visits on our behalf.
Our department have no control on the number of BF56s you send to us. We decide each application on set eligibility criteria.
To establish the need for appointee the LA should prove that the customer must, because of mental incapacity (or exceptionally, severe physical disability) be incapable of managing their affairs. If challenged we must be able to justify our decision to make the appointment.
To do this the BF56 is usually accompanied by evidence from a suitably qualified person who has personal knowledge of the customer, e.g. a social worker, CPN or GP and who has already assessed the customer’s capabilities. We can not presume that just because someone is old or in a nursing home they are incapable of financial transactions, declaring change of circumstances, understanding decisions etc.
The appointment must never be made because it is ‘convenient’ either for The Secretary of State, appointee or the Corporate Acting Body. An appointee is not appropriate if the customer is simply unable to get to the bank/PO or Building Society. Nor is it appropriate simply because the customer no longer wishes to manage their own affairs.
If the LA have provided all the above, an officer from our department will authorise the appointeeship and issue form BF57 to you and send Form BF 56 to the Pension centre change team for new payment arrangements to be actioned ( This should be done within 10-14 days of the application being authorised)
If the Local Authority wishes to take over appointeeship for a customer who already has an appointee they must follow the guidance below.
If the client already has an appointee you should obtain a letter from the current appointee relinquishing their appointment to act
OR-Your assurance that the current appointee will notify the pension centre that they wish to relinquish their appointeeship
OR - Provide us with sufficient information, giving us reasons to justify our revoking an earlier appointeeship due to mismanagement.
And - Give us up to date evidence of the customer’s inability to act on their own behalf.