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ID requirements for claimant with an appointee
I’m struggling to find any information on this. A professional deputy has made a claim to UC for their client and the DWP are insisting the client attend the interview and provide ID. Why can this not be provided by the deputy? Does anyone have any links to relevant guidance?
Hi,
Here is some lengthy guidance. The DWP official may be of EO grade to authorise an appointeeship. So that could be a Work Coach or as is usually the case a Compliance Visiting Officer.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procedures-for-dealing-with-agents-appointees-attorneys-deputies-and-third-parties/part-5-appointee#existing-appointee-claims-another-benefit
Thank you for the link. The problem is that the client has a professional deputy who is willing to send the ID via post but cannot visit the office, neither can the client as he lacks capacity. But the DWP are insisting that the client attends the office with ID.
And in any event, as the guidance linked to by UB40 makes clear;
5010. An appointee is not appropriate if the customer already has another person or body of an equal or higher authority acting for them. These are:
- deputies appointed by the Court of Protection (CP) in England and Wales
.........
The guidance is really about appointees who are appointed by the DWP - i.e. for the specific and limited purpose of managing the claimant’s benefits. Where the claimant already has a professional or court appointed deputy, absent any suspicion of their not acting in the claimant’s best interests, the DWP doesn’t have any choice but to accept them as appointee for benefit purposes - that is what they already are in law.
Is the appointee corporate or a company/organisation?
I’d advise speaking to your local Partnership Manager if possible. When UC started in Northumberland we agreed with our Partnership Manager that our deputyship team (who hold appointeeship for a large number of clients) would never be expected to attend JCs and that ID would be provided by email. It’s worked well and the practice has been adopted by most deputyship teams now.
I see no reason why the same shouldn’t apply to a different type of appointee other than personal ones.
Is the appointee corporate or a company/organisation?
I’d advise speaking to your local Partnership Manager if possible. When UC started in Northumberland we agreed with our Partnership Manager that our deputyship team (who hold appointeeship for a large number of clients) would never be expected to attend JCs and that ID would be provided by email. It’s worked well and the practice has been adopted by most deputyship teams now.
I see no reason why the same shouldn’t apply to a different type of appointee other than personal ones.
Thanks Rosie. It’s a professional deputy. I deal with a lot of their cases but we have never come across this problem before. I’ll raise it with DWP.
May just be a work coach who hasn’t come across the situation before. We get them now and again. it’s usually easy to resolve via the Partnership Manager.