Her Honour Judge Hilder, Senior Judge of the Court of Protection, told delegates at the national Solicitors for the Elderly conference that applications to the Court of Protection have risen by 50% in the last ten years.
In 2008 there were 10,000 applications jumping to 15,000 in 2018. Of those, 97% related to financial issues meaning that property and affairs issues dominate the agenda with relatively little work occupying the courts relating to welfare or deprivation of liberty.
Interestingly attorneyships have risen by a staggering 900% over the same time period rising from 10,000 in 2008 to 750,000 in 2018.
Judge Hilder said that the reason for the weighting towards financial matters coming to Court was more than likely because these were the matters that were contentious with many non-contentious matters being able to be dealt with by Offices of the Court.
One of Judge Hilder’s responsibility is to oversee the allocation of work. Given the rise in attorneyships and the general upward trend in caseloads she said she felt that managing workloads was likely to become increasingly challenging in the coming years.
The Court of Protection is an office of the Supreme Court dealing with matters almost exclusively under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. It is undergoing a process of regionalisation with seven regional hub courts operating in addition to the London Court.
