Mr Justice Hayden has published a letter outlining the work of the HIVE group set up to support support the work of the Court of Protection throughout the present covid-19 health crisis. The letter in full is set out below:

The Vice-President, Mr Justice Hayden, has issued detailed guidance on 31 March relating to remote access to the Court.

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 Government has issued amendment regulations concerning and the impact that leaving the EU will have on the Court of Protection Rules.

The amendments will, in the MoJ's words

"remove provision in the FPR and COPR which relates to powers, processes and orders under EU instruments or international agreements which will no longer be applicable or available when those instruments or agreements are revoked by the Withdrawal Act or the statutory instruments made under it, or in some cases amend such provision where such instruments are retained in an amended form."

The accompanying Explanatory Memorandum provides a useful review of the interconnection between UK rules and EU instruments, though clearly it is still a developing picture.

UPDATE: 11 March 2019
These regulations passed the sift requirements on 5th March. Read the SI as load before Parliament on legislation.gov.uk.