If you’re acting on behalf of a carer

There are different ways to act on behalf of a carer, including as:

• an appointee
• a third party representative

Appointees

An appointee is someone who has legal powers to act on behalf of someone who cannot manage their own affairs. This could be as a:

• Power of Attorney
• Legal Guardian
• Deputy

Find out more about being an appointee.

If you’re already an appointee

If the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) appointed you to act for a carer who cannot manage their Carer’s Allowance, you can continue to act for them for their Carer Support Payment.

DWP will tell Social Security Scotland when the carer’s benefit moves from DWP to Social Security Scotland.

Social Security Scotland may need to contact you about your role as an appointee. They will not need to do this if you’re already the carer’s appointee for a different Social Security Scotland benefit.

Your responsibilities as an appointee

Managing money

Keep any money you get from Social Security Scotland separate from your own money. Make sure nobody else can access it.

You may want to keep records to track payments and spending.

You should always spend the money in ways that benefit the person you’re acting for.

Making decisions

When you make decisions for the carer, think about their:

• needs
• past and present wishes
• feelings

Communicating

If you have difficulty communicating with the person you’re acting for, contact Social Security Scotland to get extra support from an advocate.

Third party representatives

A third party representative could be:

• an interpreter
• a healthcare professional
• a support worker
• a family member or friend

They can help the carer with things like:

• filling in forms
• making phone calls
• checking progress of an application
• telling Social Security Scotland about a change

But third party representatives do not have legal powers to make decisions for someone else.

If you’re already a third party representative

If you’ve been helping someone with their Carer’s Allowance, Social Security Scotland will not know about this.

You’ll need to tell Social Security Scotland if you want to carry on helping the carer. Social Security Scotland will check that this is what the carer wants too.

Your responsibilities as a third party representative

You can only act in this role for a maximum of 3 months unless the carer gives you permission to carry on for longer.

Social Security Scotland is not allowed to share some kinds of information with a third party representative such as:

• bank account details
• details about someone’s health or disability