Press Release - Public Guardianship Office: protecting and
promoting the financial affairs of people who lose mental
capacity
8 June 2005
Since its creation in 2001, the Public Guardianship Office has
improved the quality of information it receives on the stewardship
of the financial affairs of people who lose mental capacity. It has
begun to target its scrutiny, reducing the regulatory burden on
some receivers deemed to be a lower risk, and in some cases where
the client has assets less than £16,000 in value. The Public
Guardianship Office needs, however, to do more to target its
resources, focusing on those cases where the risk of mismanagement
or financial abuse are greatest. It should also make it easier for
people to report concerns about potential exploitation.
The effectiveness of the Public Guardianship Office relies on
having timely and accurate information on the welfare of its
clients and the management of their financial affairs by appointed
‘receivers’. In 1999, the Public Guardianship Office’s predecessor,
the Public Trust Office, was criticised by both the National Audit
Office and the Public Accounts Committee for failing to ensure that
a large proportion of receivers submitted annual accounts; and
failing to ensure, through its visits programme, that patients’
funds were being used for their benefit. The Public Trust Office
was also criticised for serious weaknesses in financial and
management information across its activities.
The Public Guardianship Office has since improved the overall
quality of service provided to its clients, particularly in
relation to accounts collection and visits. Among cases examined by
the National Audit Office, the Public Guardianship Office had
collected over 90 per cent of the accounts due from receivers
(showing in each case how they had used the patient’s money) within
its target of six months, compared to 80 per cent in 1998-99. It
had also expanded the number of visits to clients. The Public
Guardianship Office estimates, for example, that the number of
visits exceeded 7,000 in 2004-05 compared to 1,680 in 1997-98.
Today’s report points out that, with over 24,000 receivership
cases to supervise, the resources the Public Guardianship Office
can devote to scrutinising each case are necessarily limited. Even
with a significant expansion in the number of visits, clients up
until 2004-05 had been visited on average only once every five
years, unless more frequent visits were judged appropriate by the
court, visitor or caseworker. According to today’s report, the
Public Guardianship Office needs to target its resources more
effectively.
In particular, the Public Guardianship Office should make much
better use of the information available to it to help direct its
scrutiny. The Public Guardianship Office has sought to improve its
knowledge of the nature of the risks it is trying to regulate by
commissioning research, and collects a variety of information on
individual cases. The Office currently lacks, however, an overall
picture of the circumstances in which abuse or mismanagement most
often occurs, how instances of mismanagement or abuse have been
detected, and whether its regulatory controls are effective in
detecting and remedying these problems. The source of exploitation
may come from anyone in contact with the client.
The Public Guardianship Office has recognised that public
awareness of the services it provides is limited and put a
marketing strategy in place in April 2004 to raise its profile with
other organisations and the public. In January 2005, it began to
roll out a marketing programme across England and Wales. The Public
Guardianship Office should continue to raise its profile and make
it easier for people to report concerns. Relatives, friends, social
workers and other professionals are, in many instances, well placed
to spot the first signs of potential mismanagement or financial
abuse but are not sufficiently aware of the Public Guardianship
Office’s role in reporting concerns.
Building on its recent establishment of an investigation team,
the Public Guardianship Office should improve procedures for
receiving, evaluating and following up potential concerns that come
to its attention. The Office has improved the quality of some
aspects of its service, particularly over the last two years.
Nevertheless, an inability to access case information quickly when
receivers and others call with queries, and delays in dealing with
some transactions, indicate that further improvements in quality of
service are needed. The continuing lack of an electronic case
management system – a planned system was cancelled in 2003 after
difficulties in implementation – is inhibiting improvement and
efficiency. The National Audit Office recommends that the Public
Guardianship Office re-examine whether the current approach to
organising its teams is best targeted at risk and meeting the needs
of its customers.
Head of the National Audit Office Sir John Bourn said
today:
"I welcome the fact that the Public Guardianship Office
has improved on the poor performance of its predecessor, the Public
Trust Office, which was criticised in a series of reports by the
National Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee.
"The Public Guardianship Office must do more, however,
to target its scrutiny at the cases presenting the greatest risks.
It should also make sure that a larger proportion of the public and
professionals know about its work and how to report concerns. The
vulnerable people who rely on the Public Guardianship Office to
protect their financial affairs deserve the best possible
service."
Notes to Editors
- The Public Guardianship Office, an executive agency of the
Department for Constitutional Affairs, was established in 2001 and
took over some of the functions previously undertaken by the Public
Trust Office. The Public Guardianship Office is the administrative
office of the Court of Protection and is responsible for
implementing the Court’s decisions. The role of the Court of
Protection is to protect and to manage the financial affairs of
people without the necessary mental capacity to do so
themselves.
- The Public Guardianship Office’s focus is on overseeing the
work of receivers who are appointed by the Court to look after the
financial affairs of people once they have lost mental capacity.
The appointed receivers are either lay people, for example a close
relative, or a professional, usually a solicitor, or an officer
from a local authority. In a small number of cases, around 250, the
Court of Protection will appoint the Public Guardianship Office’s
Chief Executive as receiver.
- The Public Guardianship Office also registers Enduring Powers
of Attorney, a legal device through which a person whilst mentally
capable is able to specify how their financial affairs are managed,
and by whom, should mental capacity be lost. The Court of
Protection’s oversight of a person appointed under an Enduring
Power of Attorney differs from that of a receiver in that the
client’s choice of attorney was made when the client had capacity.
Once registered, an attorney does not have to submit accounts to
the Public Guardianship Office unless required. Similarly, the
client is not usually visited by one of the appointed
visitors.
- The Mental Capacity Act, which gained Royal Assent in April
2005, will provide a new framework for making decisions on behalf
of people who lack capacity to do so themselves. The provisions of
the Act, which are due to come into force from April 2007, will
include the creation of a statutory office holder, the Public
Guardian, and will alter the way the Public Guardianship Office
currently works.
- The National Audit Office and Committee of Public Accounts have
previously produced a series of reports critical of the performance
of the Public Guardianship Office’s predecessor, the Public Trust
Office, the last in 1999 (Committee of Public Accounts,
Thirty-Fifth Report, Session 1998-99).Press notices and reports are
available from the date of publication on the National Audit Office
website, which is now at www.nao.org.uk. Hard copies can be
obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702 3474.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir John Bourn, is the
head of the National Audit Office which employs some 800 staff. He
and the National Audit Office are totally independent of
Government. He certifies the accounts of all Government departments
and a wide range of other public sector bodies; and he has
statutory authority to report to Parliament on the economy,
efficiency and effectiveness with which departments and other
bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 38/05
All enquiries to Barry Lester, NAO Press Office: Tel: 020 7798
7937
Mobile: 07748 181692