Decision-making assistance agreements

You will be able to appoint a decision-making assistant by making a decision-making assistance agreement. The agreement must be in writing and include details of the decisions that your decision-making assistant will help you with. It must include a statement by you that you understand the agreement. Your decision-making assistant must confirm that they understand their duties and will carry them out.

You must notify us when you have made a decision-making assistance agreement. We will review it to make sure it meets the legal requirements. If we approve the decision-making assistance agreement, we can provide you with a certified copy of the agreement which can be used by your decision-making assistant to show that they have the legal authority to help you.

If you need to find out if someone else has a decision-making assistance agreement, you can ask them to see a certified copy of their agreement.

You or your decision-making assistant must tell certain people, like your spouse/civil partner and adult children, about the agreement. You must also provide them with copies of the agreement. These people are called your ‘notice parties’. We will provide you with a form that you can send or email to your notice parties.

Your decision-making assistant is not required to submit reports to us unless we request them.

We can send someone to talk to you or your decision-making assistant who can provide us with a report on certain matters relating to the agreement. For example, we can send a general visitor or a special visitor if we receive a complaint about your decision-making assistant or if we want to check that the agreement is working the way that it should.

You or your decision-making assistant can cancel the decision-making assistance agreement at any time. It does not need to be replaced by another type of decision support arrangement. However, if you need more support for making decisions, you might need a co-decision-making agreement or a decision-making representative.

Cancelling your decision-making assistance agreement is called revoking the agreement.

You can decide to change your decision-making assistance agreement at any time. Any changes must come from you and not your decision-making assistant. However, your decision-making assistant will need to agree to the changes.

Changing your decision-making assistance agreement is called varying the agreement

There is a fee to notify us about the decision-making assistance agreement. There is also a fee to change the decision-making assistance agreement. Some people may not have to pay a fee. This will depend on your individual circumstances, including your income and dependents.

The fee for notifying or changing your decision-making assistance agreement is €15.