The Free Appointee Bank Account
Some Features of the Appointee Account
- Free of Charge and simple to open
- Financial Service Compensation Scheme (FSCS) protected
- Buil-in welfare benefit check and entitlement calculator
- Store, view and share DWP letters and other documents
- Prepaid spending cards for loved ones /carers/support workers
- Biometric fingerprint activated debit cards – No PIN required
- Set up automated balance limits on accounts for safeguarding
- Get personalised suspicious payment alerts for fraud monitoring
- Use or Current Account Switch Service to transfer old account
- Instant bank statements online or from smartphone app
- Entry onto the Vulnerability Registration Service database
- Access to expert support from the Money Carer Foundation
What we need to open the account
- A copy of the DWP BF57 document (your appointee confirmation)
- Name of vulnerable person under appointeeship
- Address and date of birth details of vulnerable adult
- Basic identification documents for KYC (Know Your Customer)
- Sort code and account details of old bank account (if switching)
The Appointee Bank Account
When you are authorised by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to act as the Appointee for a vulnerable person, you will be required to open a separate bank account for this purpose.
As the largest provider of appointeeship services in the UK, Money Carer has used its expertise to provide an Appointee bank account service on the Monika Banking Platform to support appointees in their everyday role.
Our banking platform is already used by hundreds of solicitors and local authorities to open bank accounts and manage the finances of their own vulnerable clients and setting up an FSCS protected appointee account is super-simple, entirely free of charge, and can be opened in a matter of minutes. Our unique accounts have been designed in partnership with Zempler Bank.
Our Appointee bank account has purposely designed functionality that helps DWP appointees to stay on top of their responsibilities, avoid making common mistakes and provides safeguards for the appointee, the vulnerable adult, and also for the carers and support workers who provide everyday care needs.
Features such as our automatic welfare benefit checking tool, to ensure you are claiming the correct benefits, our high and low balance alert system, to let you know when to contact the DWP about a change in circumstances, and the ability to provide separated debit cards to your loved one or their carers for everyday shopping needs, are all part of the free service.
You can also store, view and share important letters and correspondence from the DWP, local authorities or care providers within your account when you need to, and you can access the account online via our secure portal or via our free smartphone app. You can also choose to have greater levels of security when managing the account such as having dual payment authorisations or setting spending and transaction amount limits for the account.
To open your Appointee Bank Account, simply contact our friendly banking team and they will be happy to discuss the service more, and get things started for you.
Financial Conduct Authority – Improved Access to Bank Accounts Guidance for Banks
