Recieved a letter from DWP to say my daughter’s ESA will be ending & she now needs to claim Universal Credit. Tried to complete the application online but got confused as it was asking for the names of everyone in the household even if my daughter isn’t claiming for them. I called the helpline and was told that yes everyone’s name in the household needs to go on form for ‘safeguarding’ reasons. This still doesn’t ring as authentic with me. I was then asked for my daughter’s bank details and why it was going into my account. My daughter did have her own bank account but I did not keep enough of a close eye on it and then they suspended her payments because she had over the limit in there- my daughter could not manage her own bank account and it is so much easier for me to manage it than have yet more passwords, passcodes etc to remember. Of course if the rules of changed I will have to open up an account for her and I understand it is to try and prevent financial abuse. What have other parents of adult disabled children do?
You can apply to be her DWP appointee for her UC, in the same way as for DLA/PIP.
When you are appointee, you need to set up a separate account in YOUR name, as you are legally responsible for the money. Be sure to get a debit card and use it for all transactions. I suggest you ask DWP to arrange for a Visiting Officer to help you deal with the benefit change as your daughter lacks capacity and you are not yet appointee.
It’s probably a good idea to talk to your local CAB or contact the Helpline. They’ll have come across this sort of thing before and can advise you.
DWP Viisiting Officers are their best kept secret, but I’ve known about them for a very long time. My recommendation was made from personal experience as I am my son’s appointee and I can’t hand write due to arthritis. I had a VO last year in relation to a PIP review. He was top notch, we went through every question carefully and twice after questioning me said M’s needs in several categories were higher than I thought. The application was processed very quickly.
In theory Visiting Officers should be available for migration, I asked for one in August, never arranged, so I tried to do it all by phone, seemed to go OK until someone rang from my son’s JobCentre, and was then told I had to visit them, but not given a list of what I needed to take. In theory it’s now all sorted, but isn’t in practice. My son urgently needs to change to fibre for his broadband. He’s currently on the unwaged tariff but keep telling me that he can’t have it as no one at that address is on benefits! As I’m his appointee all his benefits mail comes to me. BT just won’t help at all!
The UC forms ask for everyone in the household because they check living arrangements, not because those people are claiming anything. That part is normal. Many carers manage benefits for an adult who cannot handle their own banking, but UC usually prefers the money to go into an account in the claimant’s name. A basic account with you added as an appointee or with controlled access often solves it. It might be worth asking DWP to confirm her appointee status so you can manage things without problems later.