Adult Social Care Glossary, v 0.6

Appointeeship - the management of benefits payments on behalf of someone who lacks mental capacity - is provided for in a number of regulations, depending on the benefits which the appointee will be dealing with:

- ​The Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1987
- The Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 and Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006
- The Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Jobseeker's Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance (Claims and Payments) Regulations 2013 (as amended)

In all the above regulations, a deputy appointed by the Court of Protection has an automatic right to manage benefits payments and doesn't need to be designated as an appointee.  The 2006 and 2013 regulations say the same thing about the donee of a Lasting Power of Attorney.  Indeed, an appointee cannot be designated if a deputy or donee is in place.

The 1987 and 2013 regulations, which cover benefits administered by the Department of Work and Pensions, also state that anyone designated as an appointee for Housing Benefit under the 2006 regulations can (if they agree) be treated as an appointee for the purposes of DWP administered benefits.

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