Managing the finances of someone else

If you want to manage the finances of someone else, you need to have legal authority to do so.

Whether you can appoint someone, or be appointed, will depend on whether you or the person has the 'mental capacity' to make decisions. The charity Scope have information and advice on mental capacity. Below, we've given an overview of the options and in what circumstances you may apply for them. You can also find information on when and how you can make decisions on someone's behalf on GOV.UK.

Benefits appointeeship

A person (or an organisation) can apply to manage the benefits of someone else, if they cannot do it themselves. The person appointed (the 'appointee') is then responsible for making and managing benefit claims.

You can find information and apply to become a benefits appointee on GOV.UK.

Lasting power of attorney

A person with mental capacity can appoint someone else to make decisions on their behalf. This is called 'lasting power of attorney' (LPA). This could be for short or long term help. The person must have mental capacity to appoint an attorney.

There are two types of LPA:

• property and financial affairs attorneys - the person can choose to give the attorney permission to make decisions on their behalf at a specific time, or only when they lose mental capacity
• health and welfare attorneys - the attorney can only start making decisions when the person has lost mental capacity

You will need to pay to register an LPA, or apply to be an LPA.

You can find information about lasting power of attorney on GOV.UK.

Deputyship

If someone lacks mental capacity, you can apply to the Court of Protection to be their deputy and make decisions on their behalf. You can be their deputy for:

• property and financial affairs
• personal welfare

You will need to pay an application fee when applying to be a deputy, and a yearly supervision fee.

You can find information about deputyship and how to apply on GOV.UK.

Support from the Deputyship Team

The council's Deputyship Team will only become the legal deputy or appointee for someone as a last resort, where there is no other appropriate person who can do so on behalf of the individual.

The Deputyship Team can give help and advice to West Berkshire residents applying for deputyship support. To ask for help and advice from West Berkshire Council's Deputyship Team, complete and sign  our support request form [100KB] . There is a cost for this service.