Memorandum submitted by the Lord Chancellor's
Department
PUBLIC TRUST OFFICE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 This is a background briefing note for
members of the Home Affairs Committee on the change programme
in the Public Trust Office. Its principal purpose is to brief
members on developments since the Quinquennial Review of the agency
was published in November 1999. We have assumed that members already
have some familiarity with the review itself and so do not discuss
its recommendations in detail.
1.2 This note is supported by three annexes.
The first is the text of the announcement to be made by the Lord
Chancellor on 11 April on the future of the Public Trust Office.
The second is the booklet, Making Changes, which describes
the Lord Chancellor's plans in greater detail; this will also
be published on 11 April. The third is the press release which
will accompany the Lord Chancellor's announcement.
STATUS OF
THE QUINQUENNIAL
REVIEW
2.1 The Lord Chancellor, in responding to
the Quinquennial Review, accepted its diagnosis of the Public
Trust Office's shortcomings. Since then, work has been under way
on two fronts. First, we have designed a programme of radical
change for the organisation and the services it delivers. Secondly,
we have already put in place a number of changes to realise short-term
improvements in the service we can currently offer to our clients.
This paper discusses both.
2.2 The programme of fundamental reform—which
will be announced by the Lord Chancellor on 11 April—is
built upon the platform of the Quinquennial Review. But in a number
of respects it departs from the review's recommendations. It does
so either because we have now identified a better way of reaching
the review's conclusions; or because it is not practicable to
implement the review's prescriptions in the short-term (for example,
a number of the review's proposals cannot be implemented without
primary legislation).
2.3 Four fundamental principles underpin
the approach Ministers have taken to the development of the change
programme:
— the protection of the vulnerable,
while avoiding unnecessary, paternalistic state intervention;
— the creation of a centre of excellence
for the provision of new services and a greater emphasis on providing
more sevices locally;
— the retention of Ministerial accountability
for the provision of services—now and in the future; and
— a commitment to consult clients,
staff and other key stakeholders on the change programme.
BUILDING THE
NEW SERVICE
REGIME
3.1 We accept the premise that the services
currently delivered by the Public Trust Office are better delivered
in future by organisations which are specialist in their respective
field. Accordingly, the Review's recommendations on the restructuring
of the Public Trust Office's services have been analysed. Our
conclusion is that, in future, the services should be redistributed
as follows:
— mental incapacity services (currently
provided by the PTO's Protection and Receivership Divisions)—to
be taken forward by a new body, the Mental Incapacity Support
Unit. Its remit will be to develop a new approach to services
we currently provide to those suffering mental incapacity and
to focus resources on those who most need our support or supervision,
while freeing those who can manage their own affairs from unnecessary
oversight. The new service would be supported by an expanded and
better targeted visiting function;
— trust work—to be transferred
to the Official Solicitor, who already provides a "last resort"
trust service;
— Court Funds Office—to be transferred
to the Court Service to realise the opportunities for closer partnership
between the two organisations;
— investments—fund management
to be contracted out, to allow clients to benefit from private
sector expertise. Supervisory arrangements to be reformed in accordance
with standard industry models.
3.2 Accordingly, the Public Trust Office
will cease to exist in its present form by 1 April 2001. Its core
functions will all continue—although in future some of them
may be delivered by the private or voluntary sectors. We also
plan new services: for example, we want to visit receivers to
ensure they have the support and guidance they need to be able
to discharge their responsibilities effectively. To prepare the
Public Trust Office for this period of radical change, we have
already reorganised its management, bringing in senior change
managers from other parts of the civil service and from the private
sector. We are actively engaging staff in the process through
a comprehensive programme of consultation. Change of this sort
is, by its very nature, unsettling but we are committed to dealing
with staff equitably and fairly. We will seek, wherever possible,
to avoid redundancies. We are also now consulting very actively
with stakeholders and receivers through special forums set up
by the new Chief Executive.
3.3 Preparatory work is now well advanced
on the implementation of the change programme. Examples of the
work now under way include the following:
— preparations for the introduction
of flat fees in place of those based on income. This will end
the cross-subsidy between clients and will allow staff hitherto
engaged on fee calculations to be redirected to more productive
work. Resources permitting, the flat fees will be introduced jointly
with fee remissions for those who cannot afford to pay the fees;
— a reform of the custody of securities
by the Public Trust Office. This is one of the first steps towards
the modernisation of the investments function;
— clearing existing arrears of accounts.
These are down from nearly 4,000 at the end of 1999 to 1,900 now;
and
— planning for a new programme of visits.
Our objective is to double the number of visits in the course
of 2000-01.
MEETING CLIENTS'
NEEDS
4.1 The commitment to fundamental change
is balanced by activity to improve the services we deliver to
clients now. We can best do this by focusing on their needs, by
introducing new services and by streamlining our own operations.
There is progress to report under each of these headings:
Focusing on clients' needs
— we have established a Customer Services
Division, reporting direct to the Chief Executive. Its brief is
to focus the Public Trust Office's operations on attaining higher
standards of services to our clients. Initiatives are well advanced
in customer service training, in reviewing our literature to make
it easy to understand and in assisting those who have visual or
hearing disabilities;
— we are communicating with our clients
through new consultative forums, seeking their views on the changes
we are making and the services we are providing. There has been
a strong and positive reaction to this initiative;
— if things go wrong, we will ensure
that there is independent oversight of our response to complaints.
We are about to appoint our first Independent Complaints Adjudicator.
— we will shortly be launching new
advice and information on our web-site, as a first step towards
the delivery of many of our services over the Internet;
— we are introducing a final account
on the death of an individual, to ensure that we obtain a clear
picture of their affairs before our supervision of a case comes
to an end.
Streamlining our operations
— we are improving our performance
in securing the timely completion of accounts by receivers.
— we are redirecting our resources
to the management of those cases in the protection and receivership
divisions which most merit supervision. To that end, we are reviewing
all cases with an asset value of less than £10,000 and, where
we judge it prudent to do so, we are releasing such cases from
direct supervision;
— we are developing a new, and more
rigorous, approach to debt management.
April 2000
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