Mental Capacity Act 2005: Forms, Supervision and Fees and Court of Protection Fees (Amendment) Order

My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Bridget Prentice) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. The Ministry of Justice has today published the Government’s response to the consultation on Reviewing the Mental Capacity Act 2005—Forms, Supervision and Fees. Copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses and are available on the Ministry of Justice website at www.justice.gov.uk/publications/consultations-with-response.htm. The consultation ended on 15 January 2009 and 76 formal written responses were received. The consultation response provides a summary of responses and the next steps in light of the consultation and the ongoing work being undertaken to review the implementation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. The consultation sought views on proposed new lasting powers of attorney (LPA) forms, Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) and Court of Protection fees and a new level of supervision for court-appointed deputies. We plan to introduce revised LPA forms, which will be amended to take on board comments, received through consultation, in October this year and lay a fresh forms statutory instrument before the summer. We will be changing the OPG’s supervisory regimes to ensure they are more flexible and responsive to client needs and taking forward fees as proposed in the consultation document, including a reduction in the fee to apply to register a lasting power of attorney from £150 to £120 with effect from 1 April 2009. I have today laid before Parliament the Court of Protection Fees (Amendment) Order 2009 and the Public Guardian (Fees, etc) (Amendment) Regulations 2009. The Public Guardian (Fees, etc) (Amendment) Regulations 2009 set out the fees to be charged for the services provided by the Public Guardian. The Court of Protection Fees (Amendment) Order 2009 sets out the fees to be charged for matters coming to the Court of Protection.