The recent Good Practice Guidance for Professional Deputies - May 2025 was released on 18 June 2025 outlines how professional and public authority Deputies can charge fixed costs in line with Practice Direction 19B of the Court of Protection Rules 2017. It clarifies fixed cost categories, billing procedures, net asset definitions, and reporting obligations.
Summary of the key principles and provisions
Authority and remuneration
Rule 19.13 of the Court of Protection Rules 2017 allows deputies to be remunerated out of P’s estate for costs incurred in the course of performing their duties.
- Deputies may claim fixed costs if the court order allows, or have costs assessed.
- The ability to charge solicitor rates depends on court authorisation.
- Deputies must consider whether costs are reasonable and proportionate to the total size of P’s estate and must always act in P’s best interests, especially if fees may significantly reduce P’s estate.
- The OPG expects Deputies to be able to justify any fees charged upon request and to evidence that the relevant work had been completed. If appropriate work has not been completed, Deputies may be required to repay the fees.
Reporting periods
- In most instances, the OPG will require deputies to submit reports annually. The reporting period typically covers 12 months from the date the court order was issued.
- When completing the deputy report, P’s net assets should be recorded as they appear on the final day of the reporting period.
Retrospective fees
- For any category of fixed costs, which are typically charged on the anniversary of the court order, but no fees have been charged to P for over a year, the OPG will require the Deputy to apply to the court for permission to charge those fees retrospectively.
Fixed costs and asset thresholds
- The threshold for net assets is £20,300.
- If P is below this threshold on the anniversary of the Order, Deputies may take an annual management fee in the sum of a percentage of P’s assets:
- Professional deputies: 4.5%
- Public authority deputies: 3.5%
- Health & welfare cases: Up to 2.5% with a £703 cap
- Where a settlement award is pending and likely to significantly increase P’s assets above the £20,300 threshold once it was finalised, the Deputy should obtain authorisation from the Court of Protection to defer charging costs until the settlement funds have been received, at which point the costs should be assessed.
Net assets definition
Follows the position set down by Senior Judge Hilder in the judgement of Penntrust Ltd v West Berkshire District Council & Anor [2023}: net assets for the purposes of Practice Direction 19B is the total assets minus liabilities, including the property, even if P resides in it.
Billing and reporting
- Annual billing and reporting is expected on the anniversary of the deputyship order.
- Interim billing is capped at 75% of the estimated or work-in-progress costs.
- Delays in billing to await asset increases over the £20,300 threshold are not considered to be acceptable.
Estimated costs
Professional deputies are required to provide a cost estimate for anticipated work, as outlined in Paragraph 7 of PD 19B. If actual costs are expected to exceed this estimate by more than 20%, a revised estimate must be submitted to the OPG.
Categories of fixed costs
- Annual management fees
- This includes any costs incurred in the process of completing routine administrative work performed on behalf of P.
- Fixed costs caps:
- Professional Deputy: £2,116 (1st year), £1,672 (subsequent years)
- Public authority Deputy: £982 (1st year), £824 (subsequent years)
- Health/welfare Deputy: 2.5% of assets, maximum fee of £703
Property management fees charged by public authorities
- Paragraph 18 of PD 19B includes an additional category of annual property management fees that may be charged by public authority deputies. Applies to tasks like preparing the property for sale, instructing agents or conveyancers and the ongoing maintenance of the property.
- It also applies to tasks such as letting the property, ensuring appropriate insurance was in place, the ongoing maintenance and upkeep of the property, managing the contracts for cleaners, gardeners etc, liaising with landlords when repairs are required and managing tenancy agreements.
- Work related to the payments of utility bills, applications for grants and benefits, and ongoing payment of rent should be included under annual management fees rather than property management fees.
Applications to Court of Protection
- Fixed costs are allowed for applications under Practice Direction 9D, provided applications are made on or after 1 April 2024.
Tax returns
- Public authority Deputies may charge up to £89 for basic tax returns.
- PD 19B defines a basic tax return to cover cases where P’s income is derived primarily from bank or NS&I interest and taxable benefits, discretionary trust or estate income.
- A complex tax return may be defined as one which also includes income form more complex investments including stocks, shares and bonds, rental property, business income and foreign property.
- Costs for complex tax returns may be allowed with justification.
- If a professional deputy wishes to instruct their own firm to complete a tax return, they must obtain three quotations as per the position set out by Judge Hilder in the judgment Re ACC and Others [2020]
- If the Deputy decides to accept their own firm’s quotation and this is over £2000 plus VAT, the deputy must apply for authorisation from the Court of Protection before undertaking the work.
Conveyancing
- This holds similar rules to tax returns; they must follow the procedure outlined in the judgment Re ACC and Others. If a professional deputy decides to instruct a member of their own firm to carry out conveyancing work and the projected costs exceed £2,000, the deputy must apply to the Court of Protection for authorisation. This requirement applies regardless of whether the deputy opts for fixed costs or cost assessment. The OPG expects the deputy to include details of any such decision in the annual report.
Disbursements
- Paragraph 22 of PD 19B sets out that public authorities may use P’s funds for specialist services (e.g. obtaining expert valuations, obtaining investment advice, debt and will searches etc). The OPG would expect public authority deputies to include details of any monies spent on disbursements on the annual report.
Use of independent visitors
- This is not covered by standard disbursements, specific court authorisation is required.
- An independent visitor does not provide specialist services that P would normally have been expected to pay if they had retained capacity and so any charges incurred do not fall within the disbursements permitted under paragraph 22 of PD 19B.
- The deputy can therefore either include the costs associated with the visit under general management fees or apply to the court for authorisation to commission an independent visitor.
Bank charges
- The OPG consider that it would be reasonable and proportionate for the bank charges to be passed on to P and confirm that the Deputy should consider the most cost-effective way of operating the accounts. Deputyship work outsourced
Deputyship work outsourced
- Paragraph 21 of PD 19B advises that if work is outsourced, it must not exceed what the public authority would charge in-house.
- Additional outsourcing costs for Deputyship functions, such as external providers to visit P, are not chargeable to P
VAT
- Non-solicitor deputies are authorised to charge VAT to P on fixed costs for periods ending on or after 1 April 2024.
- If the court order is silent on VAT and was issued after 4 September 2020, they may apply for retrospective authorisation, in line with the Public Guardian v Riddle (No.1) judgement.
Travel costs
- Public authority and not-for-profit deputies may charge a fixed rate of £51 per hour for travel, as per Paragraph 41 of PD 19B.
- Travel costs can only be claimed for duties directly related to the deputyship, such as visiting P, attending relevant meetings, or accompanying P to appointments. Claims unrelated to deputyship responsibilities are not allowed.
- Deputies must not claim for travel before their appointment date and should explain in their report if more than one visit to P occurs annually. Travel costs for multiple fee earner’s can only be claimed when strictly necessary and must be justified.
- Deputies should calculate travel time from their work base to the meeting location and for the return journey. If the travel time is shorter (eg as they are travelling from home) they should claim the lower amount. If travel time is longer because of travelling from home, then deputies should deduct normal home-to-office travel time from the claim.
- Where deputies travel to the same location for more than one P (for example, to visit them in a care home), they should share out the travel time equally between those Ps.
Costs following the death of P
- Deputies may only take final costs once the Deputy has agreed them with P’s personal representative of the administrator of P’s estate.
- It is not permitted to take final costs after the death of P before the estate has been settled.
For further information please contact the author, Casey Mcgregor here.
