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Power of Attorney Refund Scheme begins
If you registered a Power of Attorney between 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2017, you can now apply for a partial refund of your application fee. The refund is available to those who applied to register Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) and Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPAs) during that period.
Reason for the refund
When you applied to register your Power of Attorney, you were charged an application fee by the Office of Public Guardian (OPG) which should represent the cost of processing and registering your Power of Attorney. In recent years the OPG’s costs reduced significantly whilst the application fee remained unchanged. These reduced costs were primarily attributable to an increased number of people applying to register a Power of Attorney. Those cost savings should have been passed on to applicants. The new refund scheme is the Government’s effort to correct this error by paying back what was overpaid – and with interest.
How much will be refunded?
The amount of the refund available will depend on when you applied to register the Power of Attorney (see table below).
| When the application fee was paid | Refund entitlement (per power of attorney) | Interest |
| April 2013 – September 2013 | £54 | 0.5% |
| October 2013 – March 2014 | £34 | 0.5% |
| April 2014 – March 2015 | £37 | 0.5% |
| April 2015 – March 2016 | £38 | 0.5% |
| April 2016 – March 2017 | £45 | 0.5% |
Many applicants register two Powers of Attorney at once, and some may have registered more than one over the 4 year period. For example, if you registered a LPA for Property and Financial Affairs as well as a LPA for Health and Welfare in May 2013, you would be entitled to a total refund of £108 plus interest. If multiple Powers of Attorney were registered over the specified period, you will only need to make one claim as the OPG will work out all refunds due to the donor.
How to claim
A claim for a refund can be made by a donor – the person who made the LPA or EPA, or an attorney who has been appointed by the donor under the LPA or EPA. The refund itself must be paid to the donor.
The person claiming the refund must have the following information available:
- The donor’s name, address and date of birth
- The donor’s UK bank account number and sort code
- The name of one of the attorney’s on the Power of Attorney concerned
Online
To claim a refund online, go to https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney-refund and submit your claim.
Phone
To make a claim by phone, you should call 0300 456 0300 and select option 6 to be put through to the OPG’s refunds team. Lines are open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 09.00 to 17.00 and on Wednesday from 10.00 to 17.00. Calls are charged at up to 10p per minute from landlines and at between 3p to 40p per minute from mobiles.
If a donor has since died after registering a Power of Attorney during the specified period, a refund may still be claimed. In addition to the above information you will also need to provide the OPG with the donor’s death certificate and either a grant of representation or the donor’s will. You can email those documents to poarefunds@justice.gsi.gov.uk.
Once you have made a claim for a refund, it may take up to 12 weeks to be processed. If approved, the refund will be paid direct into the donor’s bank account.