1.This Order increases the fixed net sum, which is the amount that a surviving spouse or civil partner receives if a person who also has descendants dies intestate, from £270,000 to £322,000. Our 47th Report, published on 20 July 2023, drew the Order to the special attention of the House.1 We noted that increases in the fixed net sum should follow a mechanical process, set out in primary legislation, and which the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) must implement within 21 days of an inflation index rising by more than a certain percentage. However, the threshold was passed in December 2022 and MoJ only made this Order in July 2023. This means that MoJ breached the law: an inexcusable error. As a result, some estate beneficiaries may have lost out because they have received amounts that are significantly lower than they would have been entitled to, had the legislation been complied with. We also observed that the Explanatory Memorandum (EM) laid with the Order was deficient in several respects. Most importantly, the EM did not acknowledge that the uprating process breached the legislative requirements.
2.Further to our Report, we wrote to Lord Bellamy, Parliamentary Under Secretary at MoJ, to ask what the timescale was for MoJ’s intended response to the situation. The full correspondence is attached at Appendix 1. The Minister’s response stated that while he could not commit to an exact timetable, the issue was being pursued “as a matter of urgency” and would consider all aspects, including possible compensation. The response also confirms that MoJ did not know how many people had been affected by the error. We look forward to further updates.
3.Our letter also asked why the original EM had been authorised in the form that it was, and for an update on the steps MoJ was taking to improve its EM preparation process. While the Minister’s response did not directly address the question relating to this EM, Lord Bellamy stated that he had stressed to his officials the “absolute importance of clarity and attention to detail” in preparing EMs. He also reported that the MoJ was staging a series of “capability sessions” on secondary legislation. We encourage MoJ to continue improving its processes to ensure its future EMs are of a consistently high standard.
1 47th Report (Session 2022–23, HL Paper 236), paras 14–37.