‘I received power of attorney just before Christmas. My uncle died on Jan 3’

David Tustain, a 97-year-old D-day veteran, died in a nursing home in the Isle of Wight before his relatives could exercise the power of attorney finally granted only days before. Ben Cooper, 61, his nephew, said: “It was incredibly stressful.” An application for Mr Cooper to have power of attorney was made in September last year. Mr Cooper repeatedly tried to get through to the OPG service line and pleaded for his uncle’s case to be speeded up. Meanwhile, bills had piled up at his uncle’s apartment including an electricity bill for £280 which was passed to a debt collection firm to recover.

With care home fees of £5,500 a month to pay as well as bills being racked up at Mr Tustain’s flat, Mr Cooper was pressing the Office of the Public Guardian to fast-track the registration which he said had taken three months, quicker than the typical 20 weeks.

“They did fast-track it but not fast enough. I received the power of attorney just before Christmas and my uncle died on Jan 3. I didn’t have time to put them in place for anything,” he said.

Mr Cooper, 61, a retired data scientist, said: “People just need to get back into the Office of the Public Guardian to process these things. It is amazing they haven’t gone back to the office.”