Deputyship financial reporting to Office of Public Guardian (OPG): contribution towards housing costs from Universal Credit

[Fatherandeputy]

Hi all

As my 19 year old daughter's deputy I am setting up annual financial reporting for the first time to the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG). My daughter does not qualify for the housing element of Universal Credit because she lives with me, but does anyone know if it's OK for my daughter to contribute to housing costs from her Universal Credit eg Council Tax, maintenance? All experiences/views much appreciated

[BarbaraGood]

hi, my husband and I take a regular sum of my 19 year old sons money to pay for his “board and lodging” as he too lives with us at home. This was agreed by our advisor at the last OPG home visit. They have been very supportive and answer all our questions. You might find a quick email to them puts your mind at rest. Good luck.

[Fatherandeputy in reply to BarbaraGood]

Many thanks Barbara, really appreciate your advice!

[colleenfred]

Hi, myself and my husband are deputies for my daughter and have been for a few years. We take a regular monthly amount from her money to cover household costs and this has never been an issue with OPG. When I do the annual report ( in our case anyway) we only have to specify purchases, costs over a certain amount. I think there are different supervisory levels depending on the amount of savings/income the person has. As my daughter only has benefits coming in it is not a high amount. I would agree with Barbara that our dealings with OPG have always been supportive and helpful.

[carbonel123]

Hi,

I am the deputy for my 22 year old daughter. When doing the accounts for last year I spoke to the OPG and they advised me that it was perfectly reasonable to have her pay towards the household bills, as long as it was her percentage of the bill. So if there were three adults in the property then it would be reasonable for her to contribute a third towards the bills.

I hope this helps

[Fatherandeputy]

Many thanks both!

[BenjiB]

my son only has benefits so I’m his appointee not deputy so a bit different but His social worker told us to take the household expenses and divide them by 5 and that was a reasonable amount to charge him.

Hes not at home full time any more but when he do ends a week or more at hime I do the same.

[HolisticMum]

I've never heard of OPG but the Financial Team in our London Borough got very shirty with me when I mentioned everyone who lives at home pays towards the housekeeping. They kept quoting some £25 allowance from their PIP. All got very complicated when they wanted me to itemise everything I had to buy for my son. In the end I got so stressed and anxious I just left it. I manage my son's budget for care and I wasn't asking for any money from this but they were doing all the quoting about what I should and shouldn't be doing with the DLA/PIP when they knew nothing about what we had to buy for special needs lives.