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You may be due a refund on power of attorney fees

daniellelevy
Written By:
daniellelevy
Posted:
Updated:
06/02/2019

Do you have a registered power of attorney? If so, you may be due a refund on fees.

People who registered powers of attorney between 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2017 in England and Wales could be due a refund from the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG).

This is because the OPG’s operating costs were reduced during this period, as more people applied to register a power of attorney and the process became more efficient. Nevertheless, the application fee was not reduced until April 2017.

The lasting power of attorney is a legal document which allows an individual to appoint one or multiple ‘attorneys’ to make decisions on their behalf, should they lose mental capacity. They can take responsibility for health, welfare or property and finances.

According to figures that Royal London obtained from the Ministry of Justice, only 194,713 individuals out of an estimated one million people affected had been refunded as of 1 February 2019, with only £12m paid out of an estimated £69m.

How to claim a refund

The Ministry of Justice launched the refund scheme in February 2018 and refunds must be claimed by 1 February 2021.

The amount of refund will depend on when the fees were paid. If you paid a reduced fee, you will get half the refund. Interest of 0.5% will also be paid.

The table below outlines how the refunds work.

When you paid the fee Refund for each power of attorney
April to September 2013 £54
October 2013 to March 2014 £34
April 2014 to March 2015 £37
April 2015 to March 2016 £38
April 2016 to March 2017 £45

Source: www.gov.uk

You can apply for a refund online at gov.uk/power-of-attorney-refund and refunds should be paid out within 12 weeks.

Helen Morrissey, spokesperson at Royal London said: “One year on from the launch of this scheme and there are still an enormous number of refunds yet to be claimed. Many people register more than one power of attorney and so could be due a refund of around £100. We would urge people who think they may be due a refund to claim online as soon as possible.”


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