Child Disability Payment decision making guide

Guidance on specific situations

Doubts about the suitability of the person acting on behalf of the child

In a small number of cases, case managers may receive information that suggests a person is no longer suitable to act on the child's behalf.

This may happen if:

  • the child is no longer in the care of that person
  • that person has been deprived of their legal authority to act on the child's behalf the child is at risk of financial abuse.

Financial abuse includes (1 DACYP Regs, reg. 26A(4)):

  • having money or other property stolen
  • being defrauded
  • being put under pressure in relation to money or other property
  • having money or other property misused

In these circumstances, urgent enquiries should be made to establish if it is appropriate to continue to allow a person to act on behalf of a child. This should also include identifying as a matter of priority an alternative person who could act on the child's behalf.

Where the case manager decides it is not appropriate to allow a person to continue to act, an alternative person should be identified to act on the child's behalf. The alternative person could be either of the following:

  • a person with legal authority to act on behalf of the child who is practicably able to act on the child's behalf
  • a person without legal authority to act on behalf of the child who can be appointed to act on the child's behalf. See Part 5.1 of the Client Representative Guidelines.

Where CDP is payable in respect of a child, case managers may, where they consider it appropriate, make payment to another person to be used for the benefit of the chiId (1 COP Regs, Reg. 22(1)). The case manager may stop making payments to that person if, for any reason, they consider it no longer appropriate to do so.

Case managers should make effort to identify an alternative person to pay. They should consider suspending CDP if it is not possible to identify an alternative person (DACYP / egs, reg. 26A(3)). This should be done before the next payment of CDP is due to be made.

There is a disagreement about having an appointee for the child

Social Security Scotland must consider whether to end an appointment if requested to do so by any of the following people:

  • the child
  • persons with legal authority to act on behalf of the child
  • anyone who appears to Social Security Scotland to have an interest in the welfare or financial affairs of the child.

For more information about requests to end an appointment and how to handle these, see Part 5.1 of the Client Representative Guidelines.

If a second person with legal authority to act on behalf of the child applies for a child who has an existing award of CDP

A second parent or person with legal authority may not know if the child has an existing award of CDP in place as they are allowed to exercise their legal rights independently of anyone else with respect to the child.

In the circumstance of a second person applying for CDP with respect to an already eligible child, the application should be rejected as the child is already eligible for CDP and cannot be eligible for CDP twice. The rejection reason should include that there is a live award already in place for the child.

If, once an application has been rejected, a parent complains to Social Security Scotland that they should be the person acting on behalf of the child, a dispute resolution process should be followed to make a decision on who should manage the award on behalf of the child.

If a second person with legal authority to act on behalf of the child applies for a child who already has an application for CDP being processed

A second parent or person with legal authority may not know that an application for CDP has already been submitted for the child as they are allowed to exercise their legal rights independently of anyone else with respect of the child.

If a second application has been received for a child before a determination has been made on the first

application, the second application should either be withdrawn by the applicant or rejected.

The case manager should follow the operational guidance: Applicant submits a second Child Disability Payment application | Social Security Scotland.

When an individual applying for CDP on behalf of a child dies after an application is submitted and before a determination is made

When Social Security Scotland are made aware that the person applying for CDP on behalf of a child has died, the case manager must make enquiries into who is best placed to act on behalf of the child.

This may involve contacting:

  • the person that notified Social Security Scotland of the death
  • the deceased's next of kin or their partner, if appropriate
  • the local authority to establish who is now the main carer for the child

This list is not exhaustive.

The case manager should satisfy themselves on the balance of probabilities that the person identified to act on behalf of the child has legal authority to do so.

As well as having the legal authority to act on behalf of the child, the person identified will need to be practicably able and willing to act for the child.

If it is found that either:

  • there is no person that has legal authority to act on behalf of the child
  • the person that has legal authority is not practicably able and willing to act for the child

The case manager can consider appointing someone to act on behalf of the child.

Once a person has been identified that is able to act on behalf of the child the case manager should follow the change in child responsibility operational guidance.

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