Refunds announced by the Office of the Public Guardian

16 February, 2018

You may have heard on the radio, in the last week, about refunds announced by the Office of the Public Guardian.

If you registered an Enduring Power of Attorney or a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) with the Office between 1st March 2013 to 31st March 2017 you can obtain a refund of part of the Court fees.

The amount varies from £34 to £54 depending on the year in which you registered. However for many people they may have registered both types of Lasting Power of Attorney – one for their financial affairs and a second for Health and Welfare. The fees varied in the period, mentioned above. For example if you registered an LPA in August 2014 you will have paid the Court £110. They are now refunding £37 of that fee. So if you registered two LPAs that comes to £74 refund in total.

The application for refund can be made online at www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney-refund or by phoning 0300 456 0300 (choose option 6). You should note that the phone lines are open on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9am to 5pm then on Wednesday 10am to 5pm.

They estimate it will take 12 weeks to process your claim, presumably due to the volume anticipated.

To find out more information about the refunds announced by the Office of the Public Guardian please contact Louise Eccleston, Head of Private Client.