Is this ethical?

Absolutely unethical. I worked as a social worker and was helping a very vulnerable elderly woman get all the financial help she needed. All fine, until I discovered thst she was paying a "friend" to do the same thing.
I confronted the man and it did not go well! ... but he did back off .... rumbled! I do not think she was his only victim.

Norah

Accountants, solicitors, estate agents are paid -- or one does it themself. If you want others to work for you it seems to me that you pay.

I have done my research, this woman is on Linked In with only a qualification in floristry.

Accountants, solicitors, estate agents are paid -- or one does it themself. If you want others to work for you it seems to me that you pay.

Why is it unethical? Welfare workers are paid a salary, which we all pay for - they don't work for nothing. That is not seen as unethical, so what's the difference if the people offering the service are capable and know what they are doing? The fact that some can afford to volunteer their expertise free doesn't mean that everyone can afford to do so - some people do need to earn a living.

I'm the first to agree that everyone should have timely access to support with things like this, and that it should be free at point of use to all. I also think that the forms should be much simpler to complete. But assuming the help happens in your own sitting room, or that of the helper (basically anywhere except publicly funded offices that should be accessible to all taxpayers), and that the advisors are not reducing the numbers of their public appointments in order to make more money at private ones, then IMO it is less unethical than NHS workers using publicly funded buildings and equipment to allow people to jump medical queues. If existing public services are unable to stretch to helping as many people as need them to fill in the forms, a 'private' option will free up appointments in ways that private medicine does not (in fact private medicine pushes people in NHS queues further back as more people jump to the front).

It's about 3 years ago but when I needed to fill in lots of forms for mum, social services gave me the phone number for a help line for carers etc and they helped fill them in.
There was a voluntary donation of £10 per form. They were volunteers a bit like citizens advice so helpful and knowledgeable of what to claim.

I think it's unethical too - but like other "services" people do pay for all sorts of things.

Sago

I don’t think you understand, she is charging for this.
Apparently it is £150 up front and £150 if the claim is successful.

I agree this is totally unethical. I used to volunteer for Citizens Advice and we spent much of our time helping people to complete these and many other forms. Please, please don’t ever pay anyone for this service. They are crooks!

keepcalmandcavachon

My goodness £150 plus access to all of your private and financial information!

She also needs to comply with GDPR !

We had help from a Gransnetter, she advised us how to fill the Attendence Allowance form in, we were very grateful.

Nobody in our area in Age UK could help.
But there's a walk-through online.

Babs03

Jackiest

Maybe the unethical bit is that the forms are too complicated for the average person claiming to fill in.

They are set up like that to deter people from claiming.
Which is also unethical because those committing fraud will be savvy enough to fill in the forms, so will only be those who are elderly/disabled/vulnerable who will give up.
The attendance allowance form is really bad, with lots of difficult questions aimed at catching a person out.
In my case am caring for my DH full time now, my whole world has turned upside down, and can’t drive, my husband was the driver, so attendance allowance is essential to get him to and from appointments not just in our local hospital but in two London hospitals as well which are a considerable distance from us.
On top of all this I have a Godawful form to fill in, obviously the government would be happy if I gave up too but that’s not going to happen.

Do please contact Age UK for help with it!

Most people who tell the truth and the whole truth will fail the test ( because that’s what it is)
It’s not just people on line but people who work in benefits help people to avoid failing.

Babs03

I am applying for attendance allowance soon and is quite a daunting task whilst caring for my DH so have been advised to ask AgeUK for help with it. This was advised by our occupational therapist and is not at all unusual or unethical.

She’s charging for her services. The same as the ones on TikTok.
Until the internet is policed it will carry on.

Babs , if you can ,do make an appointment with age concern or age uk. They are very helpful and very familiar with filling in Attendance Allowance forms . When questioned do not pull any punches ! Good luck.

BTW.
We found nowhere locally to do the form with us.
It was a case of read online about it or just do it.

Like MollyNew I filled in an attendance allowance form for my mother-in-law and found it to be ok.
It was long but I was very honest about what she could and couldn't do, and how it varied a bit according to how tired she was.

I read through the age concern (? I THINK it was Age Concern) examples and adapted some to her situation.

They phoned me to clarify something and said "we think this is a higher rate claim really and wanted to check if she does or doesn't need xyz in the night."

It didn't sound to me that they were trying to push back.
She did get the higher rate.

Sago I agree! There are lots if organisations that will fill in an Attendance Allowance form - free of charge! Having said that woman on FB is probably not doing anything wrong!!
However she is certainly charging far too much. It is worth approaching age concern for assistance with filling in an AA form. For information,
AA is not means tested so no need to divulge financial status.

My goodness £150 plus access to all of your private and financial information!

I had to fill in an attendance allowance form for my dad a couple of years ago. Yes, it was a long winded form but I didn't think it was designed to catch people out. If you're claiming benefits, you need to show why you need it. Once we had all dad's financial information to hand - bank statements etc, it was easier to do than some friends and family had said it would be.

Before I retired, I used to help people to complete benefits forms as part of my job. They are long forms and look daunting but often if you fill in one section, you can skip others. They are time consuming so I always advise people to take their time and go section by section.

As for the woman on Facebook, I think £150 to £300 is quite exploitative.

25Avalon

So long as people realise they can get help for free. I am thinking of people taken in by adverts offering to fill in official forms such as for DVLA that replicate the DVLA website so you think it’s the official site and you now have to pay.

There are websites which seemed to be the official way to obtain a visitor visa for eg Australia when in fact, it is free to do so through the official Australian Government website.

I remember a friend telling me he'd obtained his visitor visa, had done it online and it was only £60. Then he realised he'd been caught! Of course, that firm also had all his details, including passport information.

I often wonder if the amount of legitimate benefit that is not claimed outweighs the amount of fraudulent benefit paid out.

Jackiest

Maybe the unethical bit is that the forms are too complicated for the average person claiming to fill in.

They are set up like that to deter people from claiming.
Which is also unethical because those committing fraud will be savvy enough to fill in the forms, so will only be those who are elderly/disabled/vulnerable who will give up.
The attendance allowance form is really bad, with lots of difficult questions aimed at catching a person out.
In my case am caring for my DH full time now, my whole world has turned upside down, and can’t drive, my husband was the driver, so attendance allowance is essential to get him to and from appointments not just in our local hospital but in two London hospitals as well which are a considerable distance from us.
On top of all this I have a Godawful form to fill in, obviously the government would be happy if I gave up too but that’s not going to happen.

I think it would be unethical to charge everyone who claimed, but as this is optional I don’t think it is. I wouldn’t blame any of her clients who alerted HMRC though. If she’s earning enough to pay tax she should be doing so.

So long as people realise they can get help for free. I am thinking of people taken in by adverts offering to fill in official forms such as for DVLA that replicate the DVLA website so you think it’s the official site and you now have to pay.

IS it a business I wonder?