A brother who was his father’s appointee dies, and the family finds that nothing on GOV.UK says what happens next. The regulations are silent on it too. What exists is the DWP’s own staff procedure, withdrawn from GOV.UK in 2022 but preserved in the National Archives, and it says two things that matter: the appointment is ended, and payment can stop until someone new is in place.
What the regulations say, and do not
The 1987 regulations covering Attendance Allowance and the State Pension give three ways an appointment ends. The DWP may revoke it at any time. The appointee may resign on a month’s notice. It ends when the DWP is told a Court of Protection deputy has taken over (Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1987, regulation 33, checked 1 November 2026).
The 2013 regulations for Universal Credit and PIP list the same three (Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment etc. (Claims and Payments) Regulations 2013, regulation 57, checked 13 September 2026). Neither mentions the appointee dying. So a death is dealt with under the first route: the DWP is told, and revokes.
What the DWP does when told
The DWP’s staff guide on appointees was withdrawn from GOV.UK on 29 July 2022 and not replaced, but the National Archives holds it. Its list of reasons to end the relationship between a customer and the person paid for them begins with that person dying (DWP staff guide, part 6, archived, checked 1 November 2026).
Its steps are to recall any payment instrument, end the relationship on the DWP’s system, notify housing benefit if it is in payment, and send form BF58 to the former appointee. The same guide says that where the appointee becomes incapable, the Secretary of State should take normal action to appoint a replacement (DWP staff guide, part 5, archived, checked 1 November 2026). It is a withdrawn document, and the DWP may now do things differently; it is also the only written procedure there is.
The money in the gap
This is the part to act on. Where an appointee ends and nobody has been nominated, the archived guide’s instruction is to suspend payment of benefit, unless it is paid into the customer’s own account, contact social services urgently, and follow up with the BF56 process (DWP staff guide, part 5, archived, checked 1 November 2026).
Where a replacement has been nominated, the guide says the same suspension applies while the BF56 process runs with the new person, and that once the appointment is confirmed a benefit review may be useful but payment should not be delayed while that happens. There is no temporary appointee in the guide or the regulations; the gap is bridged by speed, not by an interim status.
Who to tell, and how
There is no Tell Us Once route for this. GOV.UK says Tell Us Once reports a death to government organisations and that the DWP can only stop the benefits of the person who has died (GOV.UK, What to do after someone dies: tell Us Once, checked 1 November 2026). Reporting a claimant’s own death through it is right; reporting the appointee’s is not what it does.
The route is the benefit office that pays the claim. GOV.UK’s appointee page says to contact the DWP immediately if you want to stop being an appointee, to phone the benefit office that deals with the claim using the number on its letters, and that an appointment can be stopped if you become incapable yourself (GOV.UK, Become an appointee for someone claiming benefits, checked 1 November 2026). A relative makes that call on the appointee’s behalf. Our Attendance Allowance contact page has the numbers for the older benefits.
Taking over
The replacement goes through the same process as the original appointee. GOV.UK says the DWP arranges to visit the claimant to assess whether an appointee is needed, interviews the applicant, fills in form BF56 with them, and sends form BF57 to confirm the appointment, and that you are not the appointee until that happens (GOV.UK, Become an appointee for someone claiming benefits, checked 1 November 2026).
The same GOV.UK page says only one appointee can act on behalf of a claimant.
Nominate on the first call. The archived guide’s process for a nominated successor starts BF56 with the new person at once, whereas an appointee with nobody nominated sends the DWP to social services to find one. Our appointee page covers the duties, and the do I need one page covers a claimant who has recovered enough to manage alone.
For Universal Credit, GOV.UK says you can apply for the right to make and manage a claim for someone who cannot manage their own affairs, and that a corporate appointee managing several claims can register one team email address (GOV.UK, Get help with your Universal Credit claim, checked 1 November 2026).
The claimant’s money in the appointee’s account
The money was never the appointee’s. GOV.UK says the benefit is paid directly to the appointee to be spent in the claimant’s best interests (GOV.UK, Become an appointee for someone claiming benefits, checked 1 November 2026). The archived guide says the department’s preferred option is an account in the appointee’s name managed for the customer, with the appointee’s own account as the alternative.
Where it went into the appointee’s own account, a balance can be sitting there when they die. No official guidance says what the appointee’s executors should do with it. GOV.UK’s principle is that the money belongs to the claimant, which points to accounting for it to the new appointee rather than treating it as part of the estate. That is untested, and an executor unsure how to treat the balance should ask the solicitor administering the estate. Our probate page covers an executor’s duties.
If the appointee is ill rather than dead
A reader whose mother, her appointee, has cancer can arrange the handover in advance. The regulations let the appointee resign on one month’s written notice (regulation 33, checked 1 November 2026), and GOV.UK says the DWP can end an appointment where the appointee becomes incapable and asks to be told immediately.
The archived guide’s route for an appointee who nominates a successor is the cleaner one: the BF56 process starts with the new person while the old appointment is still in place, so the suspension is short. A power of attorney does not do this job for Universal Credit or PIP, where the 2013 regulations say an appointee cannot be appointed alongside an attorney with benefit powers (regulation 57, checked 13 September 2026); our removing an appointee page covers that rule.
If it is the claimant who dies
The archived guide says that at the point of the customer’s death the appointeeship lapses, and that someone may need to be appointed to deal with outstanding action (DWP staff guide, part 5, archived, checked 1 November 2026). Its part 1 describes a death arrears payee, a person authorised to receive any payment outstanding after the customer’s death.
That death is reported through Tell Us Once, which GOV.UK says contacts the DWP to cancel benefits and entitlements. Our when someone dies hub covers the first weeks, and the deadline planner the dates.
Scotland
Scottish benefits have their own appointee. Social Security Scotland says a DWP appointee cannot normally act for someone’s Social Security Scotland applications and awards, and lists the appointee’s duties as applying for the awards, dealing with mail and calls, reporting changes, receiving payments and spending them on the person’s wants and needs, and repaying overpayments (mygov.scot, https: //www.mygov.scot/acting-on-behalf-of-someone-applying-for-benefits, checked 1 November 2026).
Its page says nothing about an appointee dying or becoming unable to act. The practical route is the same: tell Social Security Scotland, and apply for the replacement, who it says it will usually interview along with the person they will act for.