The new deputy forms are now ready for deputies to use and we’ll be publishing them on 1 March 2016. We learned a lot from the research process, and we’re grateful to everyone who agreed to take part. We hope to carry on learning from deputies about how to make these forms easier to fill in, so please let us know what you think.
The Office of the Public Guardian supervises anyone who has been appointed as Deputy by the Court of Protection to make decisions on behalf of another person.Deputies must complete an annual report of the decisions they have made, including financial transactions.Revised forms have been in the pipeline for some time and it is interesting to read the research the OPG team have undertaken, despite budgetary constraints.The new forms are expected to make it easier for Deputies to report the decisions they have made. There has been speculation that the financial reporting requirements may have been reduced. Many people viewed this as a fundamental safeguard, albeit quite onerous for the Deputy to complete. If it has gone, it will be interesting to see what measures are in place so that financial abuse doesn’t go unnoticed.When the new forms go live on 1st March Deputies will be able to see whether they are a change for the better.
