Hi

My friend is a carer for her husband who has early onset dementia they are both 62 he is on income based ESA and she also has health problems including several strokes, angina attacks and has difficulty getting out as she has fainting fits.

Last week she had to attend a compliance meeting, it seems that her husband has a works pension and a building society account which she was not aware of ( he left her for another woman and only came back to her when he started becoming ill so there are parts of his life she didn't share), she has had no letters addressed to him from either the BS or the pension company and obviously she cant ask him about it, the DWP asked her about the date the pension started amounts etc, accused her of withholding evidence and have given her 3 weeks to get that evidence

She contacted both the BS the DWP say the account is held and her husbands old company, the BS refused to give her any details about the account but are writing to her husband and her husbands old employer have refused point blank to even discuss it with her, both are citing the data protection act as she does not have power of attorney she can apply to the courts to get access she said protection order but I am not sure what that means but in any case it would take longer than the 3 weeks the DWP has set.

I have advised her that if her husbands old employer wont write to her that she writes to them confirming the telephone call and confirming they have refused to release the details to her due to the DPA, send it signed for a get proof of signature then at least she can prove to the DWP that she cant get the information they require.

What I don't her to be is 'piggy in the middle' where the DWP say get information and BS and husbands company say 'you cant have it' and she is left floundering surely the DWP themselves can get this information anyway without the DPA so the only evidence she needs to supply is that she didn't know about the pension which could be tricky as they don't have to believe her and that she has derived no income from the pension which would be clear once BS statements are provided and there has been no movement of funds, obviously there would still be the question about capital which may have resulted in an overpayment, she is going to CAB but any help would be greatly appreciated

Thank you

Can your friend's husband sign letters of authority to the ex-employer and pension company saying that they can release information to his wife?

HB

No he has full blown dementia can only say two words and doesn't even recognise her half the time its just like elderly dementia he has no mental capacity what so ever - its very sad

Has this been explained to the compliance officer?

As they can send an EQ1/AO14 for wage/pension details, but ask the customer to in the first instance.

Obviously she will have to obtain the bank statements but this may help her out.

No he has full blown dementia can only say two words and doesn't even recognise her half the time its just like elderly dementia he has no mental capacity what so ever - its very sad

Would this idea work, if DWP cannot obtain the info themselves.

Get the two companies that won't provide you with information to confirm this is in writing. Yes this is stupid, but if you explain it to them, they will understand why you want something in writing.

Then get a note from your husbands Doctors confirming the health situation prevents him from consenting to things like Data Protection requests on his behalf.

Armed with these two bits of information, DWP will see that you are in a position of not being able to get hold of information.

There is obviously a longer legal process you need to go through, taking responsibility for your husbands finances, but that would take a long time. Suggest you search for charities that deal with dementia e.g Age UK and see if they have a helpline. They often have very useful info about the legal process that needs to be gone through.

AgeUK are very good, they helped me a lot when my mother had dementia problems. Their website tells you where the local office is and it also has information on power of attorney.

HB

Thanks everyone I will suggest she contacts age uk