Ministry of Justice
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Public Guardian begins review of impact of Mental Capacity Act
Plans to reduce the fees and simplify the forms for people making Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) were part of proposals announced today in a public consultation by Public Guardian Martin John.
This consultation is the first stage of a wider review by the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) into how well the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) (2005) is working.
The proposals include plans to:
* reduce the fee for registering LPAs from £150 to £120
* redesign the LPA form and guidance notes to be clearer and more logical, with guidance notes incorporated in the form itself; and
* introduce a new level of supervision of court-appointed deputies to give short-term support and scrutiny where needed.
Bridget Prentice, Justice Minister said:
"The Mental Capacity Act is an important piece of legislation that enables people to plan for the future, and helps protect the most vulnerable people in society. This welcome review will ensure the law continues to deliver what people need."
Public Guardian Martin John said:
"We have listened to our customers and brought forward these proposals to make real improvements. But this is just the first phase of our wider work to review how effective the implementation of the Act has been and what else we can do to make a real difference to our users."
Rosie Varley, the first chair of the Public Guardian Board which scrutinises the Public Guardian said:
"I am pleased that OPG have started the review, which will address many of the issues raised in our first annual report published earlier this month.
"As I said then, the first year of operation has been very tough, but lessons have been learned. I look forward to our next report when I hope to see some of the measures outlined in the review being introduced."
Some of these changes will be introduced from April 2009. The review is a long-standing public commitment to be carried out one year after the Act came into force.
Notes to Editors
1. The consultation will end on 15 January 2009.
2. The consultation, Lasting Powers of Attorney, Supervision of Deputies by the Public Guardian and Office of the Public Guardian and Court of Protection Fees, can be found on http://www.publicguardian.co.uk
3. The forms have been redesigned with help from Solicitors for the Elderly.
4. The review will continue to look at other areas of how well the Act is working over the coming months. Further details will be outlined on the OPG's website http://www.publicguardian.gov.uk and through customer and stakeholder newsletters issued by the OPG.
5. The OPG registers enduring and lasting powers of attorney, supervises deputies appointed by the Court of Protection and investigates any concerns raised with it in relation to deputies or registered enduring or lasting powers of attorney.
6. Deputies are appointed by the Court of Protection to make decisions for people when they lack capacity when the Court decides it is in the best interest of the person that a deputy is appointed.
7. Registering an LPAs currently costs £150 per form. EPAs which are the precursor to LPAs cost £120 to register. We propose to reduce the fee for registering LPAs from £150 to £120 to reflect the reduced costs resulting from the higher than expected volumes.
8. Following delays in the processing of applications to register LPAs earlier this year, applications that contain no errors are now being processed in just over 8 weeks, and within the published standard of 9 weeks.
9. For more information about the Act, please visit http://www.publicguardian.co.uk.
ENDS
