HMRC

[Blue in Munich]

My mother-in-law is 91, recently widowed, and received a lump sum payment in lieu of a widow's pension from father-in-law's former employer (we are talking about a £380 payment instead of a £10 per month pension). She gets sent a new tax coding because she is apparently between employers (HMRC give her previous employer as the company who paid her the lump sum). Just phoned HMRC to try & find out if she needs to do anything about it as she is actually not between employers. Eventually get answered, explain the situation and I am asked for the security details as the appointee. I explain there aren't any as the letter only arrived today. I am then told that he can't speak to me because of the lack of security details. I explain that she is in a care home, has dementia, and I am doing this because she is not capable. Then she needs to write a letter explaining that I can act as her appointee. Did you miss the last bit? She's in a home and has dementia, letter writing isn't a strong point at the moment. Oh, then you need to write the letter and she needs to sign it. But she has dementia, she doesn't know what she would be signing! Doesn't matter, can't do anything without the letter. So as long as we coerce her into signing a letter that she doesn't understand you can then discuss this tax issue with me? Yes.

Sorry, but I felt the need to rant. British bureaucracy at its best; you couldn't make it up.

 

[Slab]

Must be frustrating but I guess in the cold light of day we have to be happy they didn't discuss these tax affairs with an unknown 3rd party caller, although I would have thought the process for setting an appointee is more formal than described

 

[Blue in Munich]

If it was discussing the ins & outs in depth I could understand it, but it wasn't like I was trying to get money out of them, I merely wanted to know if we actually had to do anything or if we could just ignore it. what annoyed me most of all with it was the fact that he obviously he a set script to follow and a complete inability to deal with anything outside of that.

 

[6inchcup]

when i had my heart trouble last year i got in touch with the solicitor who has my will and had a letter done that could be used in the event i was incapable of doing things for myself,thankfully it has not needed to be done but is there if an event like yours crops up,could you not get a doctors letter stating your mother-in-laws situation and a solicitors letter confirming your status as appointee.

 

[Slab]

Agree, the scripted call is a nightmare to be part of (for both sides) and more difficult for the caller as generally you don't have a copy of the script to follow too!

I guess they couldn't say whether you can ignore or not as every case will be unique circumstances and to answer the question they'd have to talk specifically about your mother-in-laws situation

Whatever the process is in being appointed its probably worth going through it now, once done it might then allow you to deal with any other matters such as bank accounts, previous household bills, insurance etc etc, so maybe not a bad thing to get it sorted now for any other calls you may have to make

 

[Ethan]

HMRC are (unusually) doing the right thing here. You (or someone) need(s) a power of attorney, but is she is already has dementia, it is too late to get one.

The alternative for people who already lack capacity is for the Court of Protection to act.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/engla...eople_e/managing_affairs_for_someone_else.htm

 

[Blue in Munich]

Whatever the process is in being appointed its probably worth going through it now, once done it might then allow you to deal with any other matters such as bank accounts, previous household bills, insurance etc etc, so maybe not a bad thing to get it sorted now for any other calls you may have to make

That's what makes it worse; the banks, the utilities, the insurance companies, the pensions benefits people, everyone else has been much simpler to deal with. Even Sky, who were in my previous experience utterly useless for customer service, managed to do better than this. The only 2 that have been dreadful have been HMRC and Social Services, who 4 months after Dad's death still haven't managed to tell us what Mum might be entitled to and when we might get some help.

We have spoken to a solicitor re a power of attorney; the moral of that story was that we really needed to have done it whilst she was still compus mentus.

 

[Blue in Munich]

HMRC are (unusually) doing the right thing here. You (or someone) need(s) a power of attorney, but is she is already has dementia, it is too late to get one.

The alternative for people who already lack capacity is for the Court of Protection to act.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/engla...eople_e/managing_affairs_for_someone_else.htm

Thanks for the link Ethan, looks useful and I hadn't come across that one before.