Power of Attorney for relative in UK

[salsera]

Hi, my elderly father is in England & I have just taken over managing his finances as his Lasting power of attorney.  I'm struggling with a few things and wonder if anyone else is in a similar situation that could offer some advice please?

I'm having difficulty with:

1. accessing some online accounts from Australia as his power of attorney - they won't let me put in an overseas address - e.g. British Gas
2. Paying for things such as his shopping online with his card due to overseas address
3. arranging for him to have access to a small & limited amount of regular spending money - he loses his cards or doesn't use them safely.

Grateful for any suggestions.

thanks

 

[Amber Snowball]

I don’t have direct experience of this but worked in Australia with patients whose POA were overseas! 

I think you are going to have to ring the institutions and provide the POA and get them to set it up manually. Is the bank card not still registered to him at his address so put that in rather than yours? 

As for getting him cash, in Australia you could give the bank an instruction that the person could withdraw x amount each week, maybe his UK bank has something similar? 

Does he live in his own home? If he is in a supported living or something would you trust the staff to give him money and you transfer the amount to them?

Sorry it’s not direct experience and the impaired people I worked with were in Australia so different country, different rules. I am in work on Monday (in the UK) and will ask the district nurses as they might know.

In good news the clocks start changing soon so move the time difference closer together if you need to make phone calls! 

Good luck, it is a tricky job to have if you are not in the country, wherever you or they live.

[Quoll]

I don't know the answers to your questions but interested in hearing the advice you will be given. 

I'm in UK and generally have had to trek around with POA in hot clammy little hand to get institutions to talk to me. Recently though a couple of agencies have accepted scanned POA documents and have been really helpful.

If you have POA on his bank account you should have a card of your own in your name such should be quite ok for ordering groceries on line I would have thought. 

It might be that you need a one off trip back to get everything sorted and as much on line as possible.

If you have a health and medical POA be sure that is registered with his GP as well, otherwise they won't talk to you if needed.

Good luck, it's far  from easy wherever you are.

[Amber Snowball]

28 minutes ago, Quoll said:

I don't know the answers to your questions but interested in hearing the advice you will be given. 

I'm in UK and generally have had to trek around with POA in hot clammy little hand to get institutions to talk to me. Recently though a couple of agencies have accepted scanned POA documents and have been really helpful.

If you have POA on his bank account you should have a card of your own in your name such should be quite ok for ordering groceries on line I would have thought. 

It might be that you need a one off trip back to get everything sorted and as much on line as possible.

If you have a health and medical POA be sure that is registered with his GP as well, otherwise they won't talk to you if needed.

Good luck, it's far  from easy wherever you are.

Definitely want as much on direct debit as possible. It’s not an easy job if you want to do it properly. Strangely the relatives who clear their “loved ones” out using POA seem to have no trouble at all!

[Fisher1]

Agree with all the above suggestions. Especially as much direct debit as possible ... we had a nightmare with Scottish power and were living round the corner from my mum at the time ... if it’s direct debit it just ticks over. Very difficult time for you, I hope you get things sorted into some sort of routine. 

[salsera]

thanks for your support.  I have actually been to the UK already and went into the banks who sorted the POA but it took 3months to get online access to manage his finances with one of them - they were hopless! Interestingly Scottish Power were fine!

I will ask about the money option at the bank, I wonder if the post office would do something like that as it would be difficult for him to get to the bank.

Shopping is still difficult as they nearly all ask for billing address when paying for a card - if you notice one that doesn't please let me know. The only ones I've found so far is Iceland (where options are a little limited as he doesn't have a big freezer) and Ocado as they accept paypal. Unfortunately Ocado is quite expensive and my father is in debt too. thanks for your help

[Quoll]

Do you have his card or a card on his account  that you're using to shop or are you using your Australian card? I have a card in my name on my dad's account and so the billing address is my dad's address. If it's your own card you're using, what happens if you have the billing address the same as the delivery address? Is it rejected at that point? (You'd want to have a word with your bank before you try so they know it isn't an unauthorised item on your card). I've sometimes had to put a UK address in the billing field (we  have an Australian cc) and it's gone through OK with the delivery address. 

I was wondering whether the post office might be an option for cash for him too - if that's easier to get to, it should be possible - I know the old lady across the road from us has  her  pension paid into a post office account or at least she has someone pick it up from the post office for her.

[tea4too]

13 hours ago, salsera said:

thanks for your support.  I have actually been to the UK already and went into the banks who sorted the POA but it took 3months to get online access to manage his finances with one of them - they were hopless! Interestingly Scottish Power were fine!

I will ask about the money option at the bank, I wonder if the post office would do something like that as it would be difficult for him to get to the bank.

Shopping is still difficult as they nearly all ask for billing address when paying for a card - if you notice one that doesn't please let me know. The only ones I've found so far is Iceland (where options are a little limited as he doesn't have a big freezer) and Ocado as they accept paypal. Unfortunately Ocado is quite expensive and my father is in debt too. thanks for your help

Have you checked the website salsera, as they provide quite a bit more than frozen food? My MIL uses Iceland and seems fairly happy with the fresh produce she orders (just had a quick look and there are six pages of Fresh Fruit, Veg and Salad for example). As  there's no delivery charge for orders over £25, it might be worth a try? T x

[salsera]

thanks tea4too,  yes we are already using iceland and they are great, especially as it seems pretty easy to get a delivery slot at quite short notice, but it isn't as much variety as you think -once you put your address in to book a delivery slot it reduces the selection according to your local store.  we are working on getting him a bigger freezer which will help enormously. Unfortunately dad doesn't cook anything from scratch, the carer just has time to pop a ready meal in the microwave or make him a sandwich and he's happy with that.  Goodness knows how he got to 88 - he's never eaten much fruit, veg or salad!! Thanks again, its helped just having people listen and give a few ideas.