LPA fee refund
Posted: February 12th, 2018, 1:02 pm
For anyone who's registered a Lasting Power of Attorney between 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2017 you may be able to claim a partial refund of the fee paid.
This is because the Government have discovered that the cost of doing the work was less than the fee charged.
The amounts involved are trivial - between £34 and £54, but I thought I'd mention it. More details here - https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney-refund
As a side note I have to say that this seems to be one of the most ludicrous wastes of government funds that I've ever seen. They are supposedly strapped for cash, imposing austerity right left and centre, yet they have spent God knows how much on costing the work done, calculating the difference and then setting up and administering a refund scheme that most people won't know about and that those who do won't bother using.
I'm quite sure that the cost of the exercise will far outweigh any individual benefit that attorneys may receive, and I'm frankly at a loss to understand the thinking (assuming there was any) behind such a ridiculous scheme.
It's also failed to take into account that a very large proportion of LPA's are made by people like me on behalf of clients. In order to fulfil my professional responsibilities I now have to trawl back through archived files for the past 5 years, retrieve them from archive, attempt to contact the client and then explain the potential refund. Many such clients are elderly and not computer literate, so I'll end up having to make the claim on their behalf, deal with receiving payment and then transfer the funds to them.
The total cost to me and other similar professionals will far outweigh the trivial sums on offer, but even if we were minded to charge for the work it's not even worth invoicing the client for such a petty amount, so it will all end up being done on a goodwill basis whether we like it or not.
I'm now living in dread that the Land Registry or the Court Service will now do a similar exercise, so that we can - correction, will be expected to - claim a refund of £12.90 for each of the hundreds of LR applications or court fees paid over the last few years!
This is because the Government have discovered that the cost of doing the work was less than the fee charged.
The amounts involved are trivial - between £34 and £54, but I thought I'd mention it. More details here - https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney-refund
As a side note I have to say that this seems to be one of the most ludicrous wastes of government funds that I've ever seen. They are supposedly strapped for cash, imposing austerity right left and centre, yet they have spent God knows how much on costing the work done, calculating the difference and then setting up and administering a refund scheme that most people won't know about and that those who do won't bother using.
I'm quite sure that the cost of the exercise will far outweigh any individual benefit that attorneys may receive, and I'm frankly at a loss to understand the thinking (assuming there was any) behind such a ridiculous scheme.
It's also failed to take into account that a very large proportion of LPA's are made by people like me on behalf of clients. In order to fulfil my professional responsibilities I now have to trawl back through archived files for the past 5 years, retrieve them from archive, attempt to contact the client and then explain the potential refund. Many such clients are elderly and not computer literate, so I'll end up having to make the claim on their behalf, deal with receiving payment and then transfer the funds to them.
The total cost to me and other similar professionals will far outweigh the trivial sums on offer, but even if we were minded to charge for the work it's not even worth invoicing the client for such a petty amount, so it will all end up being done on a goodwill basis whether we like it or not.
I'm now living in dread that the Land Registry or the Court Service will now do a similar exercise, so that we can - correction, will be expected to - claim a refund of £12.90 for each of the hundreds of LR applications or court fees paid over the last few years!
