Karen Higham

My role

I am an executive providing support to our court-appointed deputies by managing the day to day property and financial affairs of our clients who lack capacity to do it themselves.

My experience

My background is as a housing officer of 20 years covering supported accommodation which included managing the tenancies of vulnerable adults with mental health, learning difficulties, care leavers and a mother and baby hostel.

My role was to help the service users maintain their tenancies by working alongside support staff and other external agencies to help them achieve a positive outcome and move into independent living. This has helped me to build the skills required to liaise with vulnerable clients and build a trusting relationship with them.

Since joining the team in 2018 I have been assisting the deputies. This mostly includes implementing the financial decisions that are made on behalf of those lacking capacity. Some examples of this are:

• Ensuring bills are paid;
• That our clients are receiving the correct benefits;
• Maintaining regular contact with family members, care homes or others involved in our clients’ lives to make sure that they have everything that they need, which can be anything from purchasing personal items for a bedroom, arranging for repairs to be carried out in their own home to booking a holiday;
• Investigating fraudulent financial activity on accounts held by our vulnerable clients; and
• Managing the sale of properties.

This is not an exhaustive list and every working day is different.