Child Disability Payment decision making guide
Appointees
All individuals under 16 who receive DLAC will have an appointee in the DWP system. However, in Scotland children under 16 only require an appointee if there is no one who either:
- has authority to act on behalf of the child,
- resides with, has care of the chid and is willing and practicably able to act on their behalf
For this reason, when someone makes a new and successful application for CDP, the award cannot be paid to a person as an appointee until Social Security Scotland checks that they can act as an appointee.
However, where an individual’s initial CDP determination resulted from the case transfer process, the DWP appointee can continue to act for the individual in the Scottish system until these further checks are carried out (CDP regs, Sch 1, Part 3, Para 14(1)).
These checks need to be completed as soon as reasonably practicable. However, until then the appointee can continue to act on the individual’s behalf, including receiving their payments of CDP (CDP regs, Sch 1, Part 3, Para 14(2)). If someone has already been appointed for the purposes of another Scottish benefit, their appointment does not need to be reviewed again when the person they were appointed on behalf of has their disability benefit award transferred from DWP.
When these checks have been completed, Social Security Scotland must decide if the appointment should continue or be terminated. If the appointment is terminated, a decision should be made as to whether it would be appropriate for someone else to act on the individual’s behalf and the usual appointee process should be followed (CDP regs, Sch 1, Part 3, Para 14(2)(a)-(c)).
Some children and young people who had appointees in the DWP system do not need appointees in the Scottish social security system. These include children who are cared for by someone who has parental rights and responsibilities for them. We will not always be able to tell if someone does or doesn’t have parental rights and responsibilities from the data received by DWP. Therefore, Social Security Scotland will contact the individuals and ask them to contact us if they do not have parental rights and responsibilities.
Fran is 8 years old and her uncle William looks after her. William claimed DLAC on Fran’s behalf and was appointed by the DWP to maintain her DLAC award.
Fran’s case is selected for transfer. William received a letter from Social Security Scotland asking him to get in touch if he does not have parental rights and responsibilities for Fran. He contacts Social Security Scotland to discuss the appointment. Social Security Scotland decide they would like to conduct a visit to speak with both William and Fran. The first time the three can meet at the same time is six weeks after Fran’s case is transferred.
William can continue to act and receive CDP payments on Fran’s behalf until Social Security Scotland:
- completes their visit
- decides if the appointment is appropriate.