Third Party Mandate

One off or short-term access to your passbook savings account

A Third Party Mandate lets you give a friend or relative, known as the third party, one off or short term access to your passbook savings account. It’s simple, quick and free to set up.

To agree a Third Party Mandate, you must have the mental capacity to make your own decisions. It’s important to pick someone you trust because once you appoint a third party, you’re asking us to accept their instructions and you will be responsible for these instructions.

A Third Party Mandate can be useful if you need cash, a banker’s cheque or a transfer and:

  • You’re temporarily unable to come into branch yourself
  • You know you’ll be travelling on a short business trip or holiday when the money is needed
  • You’re going to be in hospital for a few days or short number of weeks
  • You’re waiting for a General Power of Attorney or Lasting Power of Attorney to be set up

Where you are able to plan in advance, you may want to consider a General (or Ordinary) Power of Attorney instead of Third Party Mandate, as this can give you support on more than just a savings passbook account.

If it is an emergency, or an unexpected situation, and you need someone to access more than just your savings passbook account, speak to us so we can consider how else we may be able to help.

Giving short-term support to someone else?

Joint accounts

If your passbook savings account is a joint account, then it’s likely you’ll turn to the other account holder for help first. If this is the case, you don’t need to set up a Third Party Mandate to enable them to help you as they already have access to the account.

If it is a joint account and you want to give someone else access under a Third Party Mandate, the joint account holder must agree to this.

What can my third party do?

Your third party can only have access to your passbook savings account. They cannot access any other account, nor any information that we hold about you and your other accounts.

One off withdrawals

If you are authorising a one off withdrawal, you must state the type and amount of withdrawal on the request form. This could be:

  • Cash withdrawal up to £500 (limit may vary depending on account type)
  • Cheque withdrawal up to £5000, made payable to a person or organisation specified by you (it cannot be made payable to the third party)

Your third party will only be able to make this one withdrawal, at this one time.

Short term regular access

If you are authorising your third party to make regular withdrawals for a short period of time, they can:

  • Withdraw up to £500 a day cash
  • Withdraw up to £5,000 a day by banker's cheque, as long as it’s not made payable to them
  • Transfer up to £5,000 a day to any account in your name

Your account may have withdrawal and transfer restrictions within the account terms and conditions, and these will still apply.

There will still only be one passbook on the account and you remain in control. You can cancel this Third Party Mandate at any time.

Important: Whenever your third party comes into a branch to make a transaction, they must bring the passbook and their proof of ID and address.

How to set it up

Follow these simple steps to set up your designated third party.

Download and fill out a Authorised Representative Withdrawals form which both you and your chosen third party need to sign. A third party mandate can either be on a one-off basis (Authority for ONE withdrawal section) or on an ongoing basis (Authority for regular withdrawals).

Register the form by making an appointment at your nearest branch. Only your third party needs to come to the branch to set this up (you have the choice to attend or not). They will need to bring:


  • The Authorised Representative Withdrawals form signed by both parties
  • The savings passbook
  • Proof of ID and address. Your third party can’t use the same document to prove both their name and address.

Your chosen third party can use the mandate a few days after we have received the form.

When does the Third Party Mandate end?

A Third Party Mandate for a one off withdrawal ends as soon as the withdrawal is made.

A Third Party Mandate for short term regular access ends if:

  • You or your third party cancels it. Cancellation should be in writing and taken into a branch. If you cannot attend a branch, your third party may bring in a signed copy
  • You or the third party loses the ability to make decisions (we must be notified as soon as possible if this happens)
  • You or the third party dies

Safeguarding your accounts

It's very important that you only give a Third Party Mandate to someone you trust. You need to be sure they will act in your best interests, because you're allowing them to carry out transactions on your behalf for which you will be responsible.

For your protection, we may sometimes refuse transactions or contact you to discuss them.

Want to learn more about how we tackle fraud?