New report forms for court appointed deputies from 1 March 2016

The OPG has announced that there will be new report forms for court appointed deputies from 1 March 2016.

Two new forms will replace the existing combined one. OPG102 will be used for property and finance and OPG104 for health and welfare. A shorter form of the OPG102, which will be known as the OPG103, will also be available for use by existing property and finance deputies assessed under minimal supervision when they report for the first time.

All other deputies, both new and old, will be asked to complete either the OPG102 or OPG104 depending on their court order. This will need to be done annually.

The changes are partly to improve safeguarding as in both forms there will be a requirement to give more detail about the client's care and funding to assess whether the client is receiving the appropriate level of support. According the OPG these new sections will act as 

"early indicators that a client may be at risk of neglect or a red flag that the client is not receiving adequate support. If there are any inconsistencies, we can act quickly and investigate further."

As well as the new report forms, professional and public authority deputies will be asked for more information about their fees and charges, using the new professional fees insert (OPG105) or the public authority deputy fees insert (OPG106).

There is a transitional period from 1 March to 1 September  2016 when deputies can use either the old or new versions.

The forms are not yet available on the OPG website but we will let you know when they are. You can however read the full news release here.