The Ministry of Justice has admitted charging excessive fees for issuing powers of attorney. The fee of £110, which was charged throughout a four-year period, until April 2017, exceeded the cost of processing the application. Government agencies are not permitted to include a “profit” element in their fees without statutory authority.
Those who have registered powers of attorney should be able to claim a refund during the coming financial year, although the Ministry has not yet announced how the refund scheme will operate.
Powers of attorney are a way of nominating someone else – such as a family member – who can make decisions about your finances or welfare if you are no longer able to do so, for example through illness or incapacity. There are currently 2.5 million powers of attorney registered in England and Wales.