Co-decision-making agreement

You can appoint a co-decision-maker by making co-decision-making agreement. The agreement must be in writing and must be signed by you and your co-decision-maker. The agreement needs to be witnessed by two other people. It must contain details of the decisions that you and your co-decision-maker will make together. We will provide a form that you can use to write down your agreement.

We will maintain a register of co-decision-making agreements. Certain people and organisations can apply to search the register if they have a good reason to do so. This might include banks, lawyers, doctors. It could also include family members and carers. We can also issue a certified copy of a co-decision-making agreement, which confirms that the agreement exists.

When you and your co-decision-maker apply to register a co-decision-making agreement, you must tell certain people such as your spouse/civil partner and adult children. You must also give them a copy of the agreement. Any of those people have five weeks to object to the registration of the agreement. There are specific grounds on which an objection can be made.

When we receive an objection, we will review it. If we believe there are good grounds for the objection, we may ask the court to decide if the agreement should be registered.

We monitor each registered co-decision-making agreement to ensure it is working the way that it should. This includes checking that you continue to understand the agreement and that it is still in line with your wishes.

We supervise the activities of your co-decision-maker. The co-decision-maker must send a written report to us every year. These reports must include details of financial matters, costs and expenses related to the agreement.

We can send someone to talk to you or your co-decision-maker. For example, we can send a general visitor or special visitor if we receive a complaint or want to check that the agreement is working the way that it should.

You or your co-decision-maker can end all or part of the co-decision-making agreement at any time, either before or after it is registered with us.

The agreement must be ended in writing. If you end it, then it must also be signed by two witnesses. If the agreement is ended after it is registered, the person who is ending it must notify us. We will remove all or part of the agreement from the register.

To end part of an agreement - for example, to remove a decision that you don’t want help with anymore - you and your co-decision-maker will have to follow the steps for changing a co-decision-making agreement.

You can change a co-decision-making agreement once it has been registered with us for more than six months. Both you and your co-decision maker must agree to this.

If you wish to make minor changes, you can notify us of the changes. If you wish to make a major change to the agreement, this must go through most of the same steps as registering a new one.

There will be a fee to register a co-decision-making agreement with us. There may also be a fee for the ongoing monitoring of the arrangement. There may also be costs for getting a capacity assessment for the agreement.Some people may not have to pay a fee, or will pay a lesser fee. This will depend on your individual circumstances, including your income or certain benefits you receive. Further information on fees will be available closer to commencement of the service.