Claim a Power of Attorney refund

Refunds are being offered to those who may have been charged more than was necessary to apply to register lasting or enduring powers of attorney between 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2017.

A Lasting (or Enduring) Power of Attorney is a legal document which allows a person, while they still have the mental capacity to do so, to nominate a trusted friend or relative to look after their affairs if they lose capacity. There are two types of Power of Attorney, one for finance and property and another for health and welfare.

To register a Power of Attorney document, an application must be made to a national body called the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG). The OPG charges all applicants a fee, designed to cover its running costs.

During the period 1^st April 2013 and 31^st March 2017, the OPG’s operating costs came down as more people applied to register a power of attorney and the process became more efficient, but the application fee charged was not reduced in line with this.

The Ministry of Justice, which sets OPG’s fees, reduced the application fee with effect from 1 April 2017, and has now launched a refund scheme for those who paid a higher fee in the qualifying period. The scheme will be run by OPG.

Either the donor (the person who made the power of attorney application) or an attorney (appointed by the donor to make decisions on their behalf) can make the claim for a refund, but the refund will only be paid to the donor.

The amount of the refund depends on the amount of fees paid at the time of the application and an extra 0.5% interest will be added to each successful claim.

Making a claim is quick and simple using the online service. Only one form needs to be completed for each donor and the OPG will find all power of attorney application fees paid by the donor during the qualifying period.

Phone applications can only be made if the donor doesn’t have a UK bank account, the claimant is a court-appointed deputy or the attorney is a trust organisation.

Visit https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney-refund for more information.