Claim your power of attorney refund now

JUST one person in eight eligible for a power of attorney refund has claimed their money back.

Power of attorney lets someone make financial decisions on your behalf. The fee to register a document setting this out was reduced to £82 in April last year.

The Ministry of Justice is only supposed to charge enough to cover costs, but a rise in applications led to a surplus — so about a million people who applied between April 2013 and March 2017 are owed money. Yet only 133,058 have been refunded.

In total, just £8.4 million of the £69 million expected to repaid has been claimed as of June 28. Most claims were made online, and experts say people may have been put off by long phone delays —but the average call waiting time is now just 4.5 seconds.

Families who were overcharged have until January 2020 to claim a refund. Apply at gov.uk/powerofor call 0300 456 0300 (choose option 6). A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman says: ‘The refund scheme is open for three years to ensure everybody has time to apply.’