Adults with Incapacity Amendment Act: consultation

As stated previously, the Scottish Law Commission envisaged Access to Funds as being an application where an individual could obtain authority from the Public Guardian to withdraw the adult’s money for the adult’s benefit.

To reflect this intimation on interested parties is carried out by staff of the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG). The most recent OPG statistics show that more than twice the number of applications are received from local authorities, or other organisations rather than individuals.

We are therefore suggesting, to share the administrative responsibility for this, that where the applicant is an organisation, they should provide intimation of the application to interested parties. Where the applicant is a lay person, OPG staff will provide intimation of the application as they do at present. This will reflect practice in the sheriff courts