Advice about son's finances

dml2

Hi our son had just started living In supported accommodation . We were managing his benefit money  but then he decided he wanted to and we felt obliged to give him his bank details, card etc. However he is getting into a mess , and the supported accommodation have asked us to takeover  his money again. We are very reluctant as we feel that the staff should come up with a better plan to help him . Although they keep his card In the office, apparently they are legally bound to give him his card if he requests it. Can anyone advise how he can be helped without us having to be involved 

Ross_Scope

Hello @dml2 and welcome to the community, thanks for joining.

I'm sorry to read about the issue you're having with your son's finances, it must be very stressful.

I have moved your discussion to our parents section so that it hopefully gets more responses  

Again, welcome and I hope the community can be here to support you.

janer1967

Hi and welcome maybe his bank can help and set some sorts of limits eg no overspend or set a max spend daily or in one transaction 

I think they should be able to help 

woodbine

hi @dml2 welcome to scope I think @janer1967 has a good solution for you.

dml2

Yes he can't go overdrawn but he cancelled all his drect debits so now he's run up some debts!  I think I will phone the bank tomorrow to see what else they can put in place and get some advice.  A daily spending limit would help!  thanks

poppy123456

HI and welcome,

If he has the mental capacity then there's not really much you can do here. It's his money in his bank account and you can't just ask his bank to put a limit on what he spends. As the staff have correctly said, if he asks for the card they have no option but to give it to him and this will be the same if you have his card. Legally, there's not much you can do, if he's got mental capacity. An assessment would be needed to decide whether he has or hasn't.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/social-care-and-support-guide/making-decisions-for-someone-else/mental-capacity-act/

dml2

Thanks for your comments - it does become a problem though that he goes through all his benefit and then has no money to buy any food for the next few weeks or pay bills so then what? Its a huge worry for us

poppy123456

I totally understand this but if he has mental capacity you can't tell him what he can and can't do with his money, all you can do is advise him. It maybe possible for your son to ask for a daily spending limit to be placed on his card but it's unlikely that they would do this with a request from you.

dml2

He has a severe mental illness so while he has mental capacity in some areas, he doesn’t in others.  I’m obviously going to have to apply to be an appointee for his account. I didn’t want to get involved but there doesn’t seem to be any other way.  How can I let him run up debt and run out of money for food!

poppy123456

Being someone's appointee applies to benefit claims only. You can't control his bank account in this way because it's his account. You can't say someone doesn't have capacity unless they've been assessed as not having it. Please see the link i posted above.

Does he have a social worker? if so then i'd be speaking to them.

I totally understand everything you're saying here because my daughter also struggles with this sort of thing but thankfully she lives with me so it's easier to control her money. I'm also her appointee for her PIP claim, so that money gets paid to me and i transfer a little at a time to her so she doesn't just spend it all at once, which i know she would.

Edit to add, you could be his appointee for his benefits claim but he would also have to agree to this, if he can't manage his own claim. The money would be paid into an account in your name and you would be solely responsible for his benefits, including reporting all changes, receiving all letters and forms to fill in. https://www.gov.uk/become-appointee-for-someone-claiming-benefits

dml2

Thanks I plan to talk to his care workers today. If he won’t agree then I feel a bit stuck!

poppy123456

It's a very difficult situation. Do let us know how you get on as it may help others in this situation.

Tori_Scope

Hello and welcome to the community @dml2 As Poppy said, please do let us know how you get on today.

mikehughescq

I think we need to be a lot clearer re mental capacity. I’m not seeing anything which says he has said capacity re his finances. He “decided” and you felt “obliged”. It’s clearly not working so there is nothing to stop you saying so and applying to become his appointee for benefit purposes. 

I note what you say about what you feel the providers should do but they are just that. Providers. They accommodate him if his needs match their provision. They have no financial involvement at all.