Deputyship - £300 property fee for dealing with all the administration relating to your residence.

williewonder

Can somebody please explain to me what this means. Below is email I received from Deputyship person, Why do they need to send a annual report to the OPG? Why do I have to pay a £300 property fee. Does this sound like its a one off or yearly? I think its a ripp off something I don't want or need.

This is email I received from Deputyship person

''There are always some charges for deputyship - you will be exempt from most of the Office of Public Guardian fees, I think you will just be paying £35 per year but, we will be charging you an annual management fee (3.5% of your bank balance each year), £216 for your annual report that we send to the OPG, and a £300 property fee for dealing with all the administration relating to your residence. These are standard fees paid by all deputyship clients.''

Keep_pedalling

Who do you mean by deputyship person? What is you relationship to them and the person who is covered by the deputyship?

Savvy_Sue

A Deputy has been appointed to deal with williewonder's affairs, from previous posts. Beyond that, I cant comment.

elsien

There is a cost for having a deputy ship which applies to everyone.

If your deputy is a professional one which I think is likely to be the case then they have an obligation to report to the OPG and they have fees that they charge for managing your finances which if your deputy was a family member would not be the case. They are solicitors, and solicitors don’t work for nothing.

Deutyships also have an ongoing financial cost. These are set out by the government, not open to debate.
https://www.gov.uk/become-deputy/fees
It sounds to me like the £35 is the OPG fee, and the rest is what the solicitor is charging to manage your affairs so I would expect that to be an annual fee.
If you’re unclear about what has been charged and why, then ask them to explain it to you in more detail.

The only way to avoid paying is if the deputy ship was no longer needed - either you don’t have enough assets to make it worthwhile so just an appointee would do, or if you regain capacity to manage your own finances.

williewonder

The deputy is a deputy officer from social services.

elsien

It doesn’t work like that in my area, social services don’t manage anyone’s finances it is outsourced to paid appointees and solicitors. I would expect there still to be charges though, and there is guidance through the courts as to the rates that be charged.
If you want more information, then go back to them and ask the question.

Every deputy whether paid or not has to submit an annual report to the OPG, and in some circumstances they can ask for more frequent reports. This is to explain how they’ve managed your money in your best interests and why they have made the decisions that they have. It is a safeguard for you that there is another independent body overseeing how your finances are being managed.

This is a blank copy of the form they have to submit, if you are interested in seeing what is reported.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/739862/opg102-deputy-report-form-property-and-financial-decisions.pdf

williewonder

Thank you @elsien for posting the OPG102 form formate the Deputyship has to fill in yearly.

From what I gather they will have access to my personal bank accounts? This really is a massive intrusion into my privacy and independence and I'm not going to tolerate it.

I have a big decision to make now. Flight it or let it happen! The only reason why I was reluctant to challenge this deputyship is because I know it will help me obtain benefits without any hassle. I already think its restrictive as I’ve got to get rid of my credit accounts which are all in good order.

I think the mental capacity assessment they did was biased and it been over 2 years now so they should do another one, peoples capacity changes all the time. I'm just texted my advocate and will be appealing this Deputyship.

elsien

Just for the sake of clarification, having the legal authority to access your bank accounts which a deputy does have doesn’t mean that they will do so.

Deputyships are often used when someone has completely lost capacity can’t remember any details of their banking and the deputy ship is needed to access their finances, move money around, sell their property whatever needs doing.

But there is a middle ground. So if you are someone who can manage a basic account perfectly sensibly but need the deputyship to oversee the bigger decisions and deal with the benefits if you struggle with that, then they’re not automatically going to come diving in and take everything over. I do think this is a conversation you need to have with your deputy about the boundaries in your case.
It can also be complicated by bank rules, because banks may query how someone who has been assessed to lack capacity around their finances can understand the terms and conditions of the account or credit card that they have. 

And the deputy does have a responsibility to make sure that you’re not getting into debt or going into an overdraft, because they wouldn’t be doing their job properly if that was happening.

My view would be to talk to them first and then make any decisions about challenging after that.