The Public Guardian (Scotland) has a number of statutory functions as provided by the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000, one of which is to provide certificates of registration made under its provisions e.g. for powers of attorney, access to funds scheme, guardianship and intervention orders. Section 7 (3) states that ‘any certificate which the Public Guardian issues under the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 Act shall, for the purposes of proceedings, be conclusive evidence of the matters contained within it.’
For some time now two versions of our certificates of registration have been in circulation i.e. an electronically produced certificate containing a crest watermark and a manually produced certificate containing a red seal. Having two versions of the registration certificate is creating confusion within organisations which is resulting in proxies experiencing difficulties when exercising their legal authority.
We are keen to have one version of the certificate of registration i.e. the one with the crest. This means that the certificate with the red seal will not be issued after a go live date. Certificates with the red seal already in circulation and presented after the go live date should continue to be accepted as they remain valid forms of legal authority.
We are currently consulting with providers of financial services to understand any impact this proposed change will have on them.
| Process | Proposed changes to Certificates |
|---|
| Powers of attorney submitted electronically via EPOAR | No change. The crest will appear on the certificate and all pages of the power of attorney (PoA) deed. The Public Guardian’s reference and page number will be printed on each page. All pages of the PoA will have a statement to be certified by either granter, solicitor, stockbroker. NB These PoAs are submitted electronically by the user via our EPOAR facility. Staff at the Office of the Public Guardian check submitted deeds to ensure they meet statutory validity requirements.
Please note that the certifying statement is automatically populated on all pages of a PoA registered via the EPOAR facility. |
| Powers of Attorney submitted by post | Red seal certificate to be removed and superseded with the crest watermark certificate. The crest will appear on the certificate and all pages of the PoA. All pages will be numbered. A note will be added to the certificate to state that it does not require an embossed or adhesive seal and does not require to be certified. NB PoAs sent to us via the postal service do not require to be certified as we have seen the original deed and have a scanned image on file. |
| Access to funds scheme | Red seal certificate to be removed and superseded with the crest watermark certificate. The crest will appear on the certificate and all pages of the instruction to the fundholder. All pages will be numbered. A note will be added to the certificate to state that it does not require an embossed or adhesive seal and does not require to be certified. |
| Guardianship Orders, Intervention Orders, Guardianship ancillary processes | Red seal certificate to be removed and superseded with the crest watermark certificate. The crest will appear on the certificate and all pages of the sheriff court’s interlocutor / court order or Public Guardian’s instruction. All pages will be numbered. A note will be added to the certificate to state that it does not require an embossed or adhesive seal and does not require to be certified. |
Responses should be sent to akerr@scotcourts.gov.uk by 19th December 2022.