A government scheme has been launched to enable people to claim back the excessive fees they paid the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) for Lasting Power of Attorney applications. The OPG was told to offer the partial refunds because it significantly reduced its processing costs, between 1st April 2013 and 31st March 2017, without a corresponding reduction in the fees it charged.
Each refund is typically £45-£54 and is due on Application fees for Enduring and Lasting Powers of Attorney. The OPG believes it owes a total of GBP89 million in refunds – so please claim your share!!
You can get part of your application fee back if you applied to register a power attorney from 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2017.
This applies to lasting powers of attorney (LPA) and enduring powers of attorney (EPA).
You can only claim a refund if you made the power of attorney in England or Wales.
Who can claim a refund?
You can make a claim if you’re:
- the ‘donor’ – the person who made the Power of Attorney
- an ‘attorney’ – appointed by the donor in the Power of Attorney
The refund must be paid to the donor.
You only need to make one claim per donor, even if you made more than one Power of Attorney.
How much you’ll get:
How much you get depends on when you paid the fees. You’ll also get 0.5% interest.
You can still claim a refund even if you don’t know when you paid the fees.
| When you paid the fee | Refund for each power of attorney |
| April to September 2013 | £54 |
| October 2013 to March 2014 | £34 |
| April 2014 to March 2015 | £37 |
| April 2015 to March 2016 | £38 |
| April 2016 to March 2017 | £45 |
How to claim:
It takes about 10 minutes to claim online.
You’ll need the donor’s UK bank account number and sort code.
You must claim by phone instead if:
- the donor doesn’t have a UK bank account
- the donor 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.
To claim a refund online:
https://claim-power-of-attorney-refund.service.gov.uk/when-were-fees-paid
OR
To claim by phone:
Contact the Refunds Helpline:
Email: poarefunds@justice.gsi.gov.uk
Telephone: 0300 456 0300 (choose option 6)
Textphone: 0115 934 2778
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9am to 5pm
Wednesday 10am to 5pm
The date of Registration of your Lasting Powers of Attorney will be stamped on the fist page of the documents, so please check them without delay – and if they were registered between 1st April 2013 and 31st March 2017, please make a claim!!
