Mrs Q, from Wales, telephoned the Office of the Public Guardian’s helpline in July 2009 because she was not sure when she could register her father’s Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA). EPAs must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before they can be used. Mrs Q was told by the helpline that her father did not need to be incapable of managing his affairs before she could register his EPA. Mrs Q therefore applied for her father’s EPA to be registered and paid the £120 fee, but the application was refused because her father was not yet incapable of managing his own affairs. Mrs Q was subsequently told that the fee would not be refunded to her, even though the application was refused. Mrs Q complained to the Office of the Public Guardian. Their complaints procedure directs complaints first to the staff dealing with the matter and then to the central complaints team. The Office of the Public Guardian admitted that Mrs Q was probably given incorrect information by the helpline. Despite that, they only offered to pay her £40. The Office of the Public Guardian told us that they thought that their offer was proportionate to the error they had made.

We upheld Mrs Q’s complaint. We were concerned that the Office of the Public Guardian argued that the financial remedy they offered Mrs Q was proportionate to their error, rather than to the injustice caused by the error. The injustice was that Mrs Q lost £120 when, as a result of incorrect information, she tried to register her father’s EPA at the wrong time. We recommended that the Office of the Public Guardian pay Mrs Q £250 to cover the lost fee of £120 and to recognise the frustration and anger their error, and their failure to put it right, caused Mrs Q at a difficult time.