Money Carer recognises the importance of working alongside family members in our role as appointee when this is clearly in the best interest of our client.
However, it is very important that family members respect, accept, and fully understand, that as the legal appointee we do not have any responsibilities to ‘report’ to, or share our clients private financial information to family members.
This is reflected in our Duty of Confidentiality specified in the Mental Capacity Act 2005 Code of Practice (Section 7.64). Equally, principle (f) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires compliance to the ‘integrity and confidentiality’ or ‘security’ principle.
It is very easy for the role and legal responsibilities of an appointee to become misunderstood by family members which can lead to confusion and conflicts of interest if clear and transparent lines of communication are not set out from the outset of the commencement of the appointeeship.
If family members feel that they require a higher level of involvement around everyday decision making regarding the management of a loved ones financial affairs then they should really consider taking on the legal responsibilities as the appointee, or court of protection deputy if necessary.
Unfortunately, many of the clients referred to Money Carer have been subject to financial abuse from family members or carers in the past and, as such, we are correct in our approach to set out clear boundaries regarding our role and and at what level we are able to involve family members within that role.
Where there are no apparent reasons for concern however, Money Carer has developed a process for us to be able to share client information to trusted family members. This is called our ‘Family Access Agreement’ and we simply require a family member requesting access to a clients financial information to complete and sign the agreement which sets out our reasonable conditions as way of a Memorandum of Understanding.
Once read, signed and returned, the family member is able to create a Money Carer account on our secure portal in order to access the shared information we can provide access to. This information is also available via our smartphone app.
Our Family Access Agreement form is available here.
Related FAQ’s
Care Provider Requests for Client Financial Information