Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many lasting powers of attorney applications to the Office of the Public Guardian are awaiting processing as of 29 March 2023; and what steps his Department is taking to improve the processing time of those applications.

As of 29 March 2023, 396,858 applications for Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) were at different stages of being processed (i.e. from being received via post, up to being registered and awaiting dispatch). This includes 76,361 applications in the 20-day statutory waiting period to allow any objections to be lodged. For the financial year 2022-23, up to and including the latest full month of February, 811,008 applications had already been registered and dispatched. All figures exclude the registration of Enduring Powers of Attorney which, while valid, have been replaced by LPAs since the Mental Capacity Act 2005 came into effect.

Eliminating the backlog that arose during the pandemic and responding to increased demand is a priority for the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) to enable the return to processing times achieved before the pandemic. To achieve this, extra staff have been hired, staff are working overtime and across multiple shift patterns, and process efficiencies have been introduced. The government is also supporting the Powers of Attorney Bill, which will create a faster and simpler service for customers in future.