Officeholder appointed as deputy
2 October 2018
The Court of Protection recently considered whether a person can be appointed as deputy for property and affairs in their capacity as office holder, rather than as an individual.
The application came about when an adult social work group, now named Focus Independent Adult Social Work CIC (Focus), separated from the local authority due to restructuring and became an independent company. The deputyship had previously been administered by the local authority, and upon separation, the company's head of business development and client finance applied for deputyship in her capacity as officeholder, not as a named individual.
The Public Guardian had reservations, namely that by not specifying an individual, it may be difficult to monitor suitability of any replacement officeholder in the future. As such, the application was granted in part, with the requirement that the holder at the date of appointment must notify the Public Guardian if they leave their position so that the suitability of the replacement officeholder can be assessed.
