Responsibilities of an agent for welfare payments

If a person is ill or unable to pick up a welfare payment, they can nominate an agent to act on their behalf. This agent can pick up their payments. The agent has responsibilities to the person they are acting for.

An agent must be over the age of 18 years and be one of the following:

• a spouse
• a parent, step-parent or foster parent
• a legal guardian
• a child or step-child;
• a brother or sister, step-brother or step-sister; half-brother or half-sister
• a son-in-law or daughter-in-law
• a niece or nephew
• a grandchild
• a grandparent
• an aunt or uncle
• a person who has been appointed to be a care representative of the customer
• a person, other than the medical practitioner who signed the form, who appears to the Department to have a good and sufficient interest in the welfare of the customer

Where the customer is resident in a care centre for a continuous period of four weeks or more, and where no other suitable person is available and willing to be appointed, a representative of the care centre may be appointed to act as agent.

A person cannot be appointed as agent if they have been:

• adjudicated a bankrupt unless the bankruptcy has been discharged or the adjudication annulled
• convicted of an offence involving fraud or dishonesty
• convicted of an offence against the person or property of the claimant or beneficiary concerned

The agent is responsible for ensuring that:

• the payment is used for the benefit of the customer;
• monies are not spent on items or services that the customer has an entitlement to and are available
• the payment is lodged to an interest bearing account for the benefit of the customer
• any changes in the customer's circumstances are reported to the department

The agent must also keep a record of all sums received and all transactions made in relation to the benefit payment, and produce the records if requested to do so by either the customer, his or her nearest relative, or an officer of the department.

The department may cancel an agency arrangement at any time where it has reason to believe that the arrangement is not working satisfactorily or that the payment is not being used for the benefit of the customer. If this occurs, the agent must, where appropriate, return the payments on request.