Government refund scheme launched for Powers of Attorney

Today, the Government has launched a scheme to enable people in England and Wales to Claim back excessive fees they paid the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) for Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) and Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) applications.

The OPG refund scheme is for fee payments between 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2017, and includes repeat applications and remissions, whether the Power of Attorney was registered or not.

The refund scheme is by way of online application and takes about 10 minutes to complete. Only one application needs to be completed for each person who made a Power of Attorney and the OPG will find all Power of Attorney application fees paid during the qualifying period.

How to apply for a Power of Attorney refund?

To apply for a refund, you’ll need to visit www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney-refund and follow the steps on the screen.

You will need the bank account details for the person who made the Power of Attorney into which any refund will be paid.

You must claim by phone if:

• The person who made the Power of Attorney doesn’t have a UK bank account;
• The person who made the Power of Attorney has died;
• You’re a Court appointed Deputy.

You can also claim by phone if you don’t have a computer or can’t use one easily.

Full guidance for those applying is available online and there is a dedicated refunds service helpline for those who need it. Call OPG’s contact centre on 0300 456 0300 and select option 6 to be put through to the refunds team.

Alternatively, if you would prefer to call into our office for us the process any refund with you, please call us on 01904 866139 and we can arrange an appointment. Please note however, we cannot make the application on your behalf, you must be present during the process and you must bring with you the bank account details for the person who made the Power of Attorney to your appointment.

If you are eligible, the amount of refund you will receive depends on when the fees were paid. You’ll also get 0.5% interest. You can still claim a refund even if you didn’t know when you paid the fees.

Once you have made any claim, it will take up to 12 weeks to be processed. If your claim is approved, the refund will be paid to the bank account of the person who made the Power of Attorney. You can appeal a decision if your claim is rejected by contacting the refunds helpline.