The Ministry of Justice has launched its long awaited refund scheme for a range of civil, magistrate, insolvency and Court of Protection fees. The implementation of the scheme follows a 2018 review where the Ministry "discovered fees in certain proceedings had been unintentionally set above cost". There are also somer fees that should not have been charged at all.  

Anyone who believes they paid too much for some court services between 22 April 2014 and 31 March 2018 can now apply for a refund via the MoJ website.

The Court of Protection fees falling within the scheme are set out below (taken from the MoJ guidance)

The latest Family Court statistics update reveals that there were a record number of applications and orders made under the MCA between July and September. 9,407 applications and 12,216 orders were made, up 19% and 34% respectively, making it busiest quarter for such work since these statistics have been made available. 26% of the orders related to the appointment of a deputy for property and affairs.

Other key figures in the report are as follows:

• 1,347 applications relating to deprivation of liberty, up 20% on the equivalent quarter in 2018 although a similar level to April to June 2019
• Orders made for deprivation of liberty decreased by 5% over the same period, from 610 to 578 respectively 
• 226,283 LPAs received, up 12% from the equivalent quarter in 2018
• 2,195 Enduring Powers of Attorney received, down 11% on the equivalent quarter in 2018

Kings Chambers are kindly hosting a launch party on 11th December to celebrate the publication of our latest book Clinical Negligence Made Clear by their Head of Chambers, Nigel Poole QC, which we think is an immensely useful book for Court of Protection practitioners. The event will be at their Manchester chambers in Young Street  and kicks off  at 5pm.

We would love to meet some our regular readers there so if you are in the area and would like to join us and the Kings Chambers team, email rsvp@kingschambers.com.    

Of course, if you cannot make it you can still buy the book here.