There is a lighter arrangement than a power of attorney for one specific job, and for a parent whose income is a State Pension and a benefit or two, it is the one that fits. The DWP calls it an appointee. GOV.UK lists no fee for it, no court is involved, and it stops exactly where benefits stop.
What an appointee is and is not
GOV.UK says you can apply for the right to deal with the benefits of someone who cannot manage their own affairs because they are mentally incapable or severely disabled. Only one appointee can act for a claimant, and it can be a relative, a friend, or an organisation such as a solicitor or council (GOV.UK, Become an appointee for someone claiming benefits, checked 1 November 2026).
The limit matters as much as the power. An appointee deals with benefits, and GOV.UK’s guide describes nothing beyond them: no authority over bank accounts, savings, property, or decisions about care and treatment. For those, the person needs to have made a lasting power of attorney while they still could, which our forms page covers, or a relative needs a Court of Protection deputyship once they cannot, which our deputyship page covers.
You can also help someone with a benefit claim without becoming their appointee at all. GOV.UK says so directly, and for a parent who can still make decisions but wants help with forms, that is the right level.
What you take on
GOV.UK lists the appointee’s responsibilities: you sign the benefit claim form, you tell the benefit office about any change that affects how much the claimant gets, you spend the benefit, which is paid directly to you, in the claimant’s best interests.
And you tell the office if you stop being the appointee, for instance because the claimant can now manage again (GOV.UK, Become an appointee for someone claiming benefits, checked 1 November 2026).
The sentence to read twice is the one about overpayments. GOV.UK says that if the benefit is overpaid, depending on the circumstances, you could be held responsible. Reporting changes is not a courtesy under this arrangement; it is the appointee’s own liability. Where the letter concerns a claim from years ago, our overpayment from an old claim page sets out the DWP’s own test for who is liable, and how to challenge it.
How it is granted
Who you phone depends on the benefit. GOV.UK’s list: Universal Credit, the Universal Credit helpline; Attendance Allowance and Disability Living Allowance, their helplines at the Disability Service Centre; State Pension, the Pension Service; PIP, the PIP enquiry line; anything else, Jobcentre Plus (GOV.UK, Become an appointee for someone claiming benefits, checked 1 November 2026). Our Attendance Allowance contact page has that number and its hours.
Then the DWP arranges to visit the claimant to assess whether an appointee is needed at all, and interviews you to make sure you are suitable. During the interview you and the interviewer fill in the appointee application form, BF56. If the DWP agrees, it sends form BF57 confirming that you have been formally appointed. GOV.UK is precise: you are not the appointee until that happens. Once authorised, the DWP monitors the arrangement to make sure it still suits both of you.
When a parent does not want one
The DWP’s visit exists to answer this. The test is whether the claimant can manage their own affairs, not whether a relative would find it more convenient to manage them. Someone who can still understand and handle their benefit claim does not need an appointee.
And the arrangement can be ended if it later becomes clear they can manage; GOV.UK lists that as one of the grounds. Helping with a form without an appointeeship is always available.
Stopping an appointee
GOV.UK says to contact the DWP immediately if you want to stop being an appointee, by phoning the benefit office on any letter they have sent (GOV.UK, Become an appointee for someone claiming benefits, checked 1 November 2026). It lists three grounds on which an appointment can be stopped, and the first is the one families need.
The grounds are: the appointee does not act properly under the terms of the appointment; the claimant is clearly able to manage their own benefits; or the appointee becomes incapable themselves.
That first ground is the route for a family who believe an appointee is withholding or misusing a relative’s benefit. The benefit office that pays the claim is the place to raise it, and the words to use are the guidance’s own: the appointee is not acting properly under the terms of the appointment.
Our removing an appointee page sets out the DWP’s power to revoke and the routes for theft; do I need one covers the test and the alternatives; and PIP assessments covers who attends and who answers. If the appointee dies or falls ill, our page on what happens next covers the gap and the handover. GOV.UK says the DWP monitors the arrangement to make sure it stays suitable. Where money has been stolen rather than mismanaged, that is a criminal matter as well as a DWP one.
Appointee, attorney, deputy
Three arrangements get confused because they overlap in the people they involve. An appointee is granted by the DWP, is free, and covers benefits only. An attorney is chosen by the person on a lasting power of attorney, registered for £92.
And covers money and property or health and welfare, but only if the document was made while the person had capacity. A deputy is appointed by the Court of Protection once capacity has gone, for £432 plus an annual fee, and covers what the court order says.
An attorney or deputy who wants to manage someone’s benefits applies to the DWP in the same way as anyone else; GOV.UK’s appointee guide does not mention powers of attorney at all. For someone whose whole income is a State Pension and Attendance Allowance, and whose savings are modest, an appointee may be all that is needed. For anyone with a house or savings to manage, it is not enough on its own.
Universal Credit reviews
GOV.UK’s appointee guide says nothing about Universal Credit claim reviews, so this page cannot say what a review will ask an appointee for. The appointee is the person the DWP deals with, and the Universal Credit helpline on 0800 328 5644 is where to establish what a review wants and why (GOV.UK, Universal Credit: contact Universal Credit, checked 1 November 2026).
If statements are requested, it is worth establishing whether they mean the account the benefit is paid into or the appointee’s own accounts, because those are different questions with different answers.