Financial management and elderly people with dementia in the U.K.: as much a question of confusion as abuse?

This article explores a range of issues relating to financial management and elderly people with dementia. The law relating to personal finances for those who lack capacity is outlined and discussed with a stress upon its complexity and the key gaps in present coverage. The article goes on to outline findings from research on these issues carried out within a social services authority in the north of England. Professionals were found to have a wide range of anxieties relating to what they felt was the financial abuse of their elderly clients with dementia, as well as more general concern about how best to deal with financial issues for this group on a day to day basis. The financial abuse of elderly people does occur, but the article concludes by arguing that the issues raised by the research are wider for three main reasons. First, relatives and professionals are often ignorant or confused by the options available to them rather than being intent on defrauding elderly people. Second, the desire to hand down and to receive money from the one generation to the next is a powerful force in society and elderly people with dementia may wish their children rather than the state to have their money. And third, fee assessment and collection for this group raise real practical challenges to social services. KEY WORDS - Elderly people with dementia, elder abuse, financial abuse, community care, charging for services, mental incapacity, personal finances, enduring power of attorney, court of protection, appointeeship.