Accepting information from and disclosing information to a Power of Attorney 104-04060010

A POA:

• is the legal authority to act for another person in personal and/or financial matters
• is the name of the legal documents that names the person(s) who has the authority to act, and
• outlines any conditions of how the person can use the authority

Definitions

Attorney: person named in the POA document who is authorised to act; there can be more than one

General POA: is valid until the principal becomes incapacitated

Enduring POA: can be put in place and used while a principal has capacity. It will also continue to be valid if the principal loses capacity

An attorney can also be appointed through an enduring power of attorney by a court or tribunal after the principal has lost capacity.

Jointly and severally: the attorneys can make decisions together or separately

Severally: any one of the attorneys can make decisions independently of the other attorneys

Jointly: the attorneys must agree on all decisions

Majority: more than half of the attorneys must agree on all decisions

When a POA legal document is lodged to the agency, the Service Officer must consider any potential risks that may affect the attorney’s ability to:

• act in the customer's best interests, and
• handle the customer’s affairs responsibly

The Service Officer should:

• review DOCs on the customer's record, or verbal interactions with either party to identify potential risk factors, including:
• family and domestic violence (including abuse of older Australians)
• well-being issues
• financial management difficulties
• homelessness
• considerable caring responsibilities
• literacy or language barriers, and/or
• conflict of interest
• seek assistance from a social worker if the customer's well-being is at risk

For further information see:

• Identifying customer vulnerability and risk issues
• Family and domestic violence

For Centrelink purposes, an attorney can use the POA to conduct business on the customer’s behalf within the limitations of the legal document. Services Australia prefers that the customer set up a nominee arrangement, Person Permitted to Enquire (PPE) or Person Permitted to Update (PPU) arrangement and this is done while they still have the capacity to make decisions. The attorney can use the legal document as supporting evidence if required.

The agency can accept information from any source about a customer's circumstances without confirming or disclosing that the person who the information is about is a customer of the agency. However, before acting on the information provided, staff must be confident of the caller's competence to provide accurate information.

For example, a Family Tax Benefit customer's partner advises of an increase in income. This income is the only income recorded on the customer record. The partner in this case is the best person to provide this information.

If any doubt exists about the validity of the information or the authenticity of the caller, staff must contact the customer or their nominee by phone or in writing before the change is actioned.

The agency often receives requests for information from a person holding a POA.

If the attorney requests information from the agency about a customer, Service Officers can give them any information within the scope of the authority of the POA. They must check the terms of the POA arrangement. Some are for a limited, specified period and subject matter, and may not cover obtaining agency information. For example, the customer may have given the attorney authority to assist the customer with their finances. In this case, the Service Officer should only discuss information relative to that authority with the attorney. The agency regards a POA as an express authority, and staff can share information or make updates in accordance with any limitations set out in the POA.

If an attorney provides the POA document in a service centre, staff must:

• photocopy and store it on the customer's record
• record details of the scope of the POA using the Fast Note POA DOA DOC template on the customer's file. See Online Document Recording (ODR) and Creating, reviewing and deleting documents (including Fast Notes and DOA DOCs)

A Service Officer must:

• not provide information about another person, for example a partner, unless they have given express authority for release. All requests for information about another person must be in writing
• contact the Level 2 Policy Helpdesk for advice if there are any concerns about the validity of the POA, that is:
• incorrect names and/or addresses on the form, or
• the limitations of the authority

A POA arrangement does not give the attorney online access to the customer’s Centrelink Online Account or copies of the customer’s letters. To do this the attorney must be a correspondence nominee.

If a customer wishes the holder of a POA to act as a payment or correspondence nominee on their behalf, an Authorising a person or organisation to enquire or act on your behalf (SS313) form must be completed and lodged with the agency. A person holding a POA does not automatically become a nominee for Centrelink purposes, as this is legislated separately under social security and family assistance laws. Requesting a nominee is a choice and nominees are required to meet obligations and responsibilities set out in policy/legislation.

Services Australia prefers that the customer set up a nominee arrangement with the attorney and recommends this is done while they still have capacity to make decisions. The attorney can use the legal document as supporting evidence if required.

Correspondence nominees can complete most acts the customer needs.

For POA authority relating to Medicare, see Power of Attorney, Guardianship, Administrative Orders and Authorised Representative for Medicare.

For POA authority relating to Child Support, see Child Support authorised agent.

These authorities will all cease for customers at the time of death:

• Power of Attorney
• nominee arrangements
• Guardianship Orders
• Financial Management Orders
• Administrations Orders (issued before death)

These arrangements must not be used as an authority to receive information about the deceased person. People who were POA or nominee do not automatically become the executor or administrator of the deceased person’s estate. For more information see Requests for information after someone has died.