09 April 2020
NICTS Operational summary
Office of Care and Protection (Patients) during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Outbreak
Published 8 April 2020
This page provides a
summary of the OCP (Patients) operational position during the coronavirus
pandemic. We will continue to review our position and provide updates when
relevant.
Please note that we
are working with a skeleton staff. To ensure that essential services are
maintained as far as possible, we have prioritised our work and will be
focussing on processing critical work only.
We ask that you email us instead of telephoning as we
can get more work processed this way. Urgent enquiries should be clearly marked
as URGENT, explaining the reason for the urgency, and emailed to ocp@courtsni.gov.uk.
Please refrain
from contacting OCP re non-essential business.
What is deemed Urgent?
* Guidance in relation to the handling of urgent applications that need to
be listed before the Master (Care and Protection) for determination was
published on 23 March 2020 and can be accessed on the JudiciaryNI website
via the link
below.
https://judiciaryni.uk/sites/judiciary/files/media-files/Covid-19%20-%20Guidance%20for%20Office%20of%20Care%20%26%20Protection%2023.03.20_0.pdf
Please note in particular the procedural requirements for making urgent
applications in existing and new cases. Your application will not be actioned if a Certificate of Urgency and if
necessary Form FCI1 are not
attached.
Declaratory
Applications
* We will continue to assess all incoming correspondence and to action those
requests and enquiries where a clear need for urgency is identified and
merited. To accelerate this process it is essential that all correspondence by
email or in writing is clearly marked as urgent.
What is NOT deemed Urgent?
* Controllership Applications
We are not currently processing new or existing applications for
Controllership
* Enduring Power of
Attorney (EPA)
We are not currently processing or registering EPAs
Help us to help
you, if a Controllership order or the registration of an EPA is required
urgently, please explain the reason as that will help us decide if we can
process it.
* Review of Annual
Accounts
We are not currently reviewing annual accounts; however
Controllers are reminded to retain receipts for purchases and to operate within
the terms of the controllership order.
Contacting us
Before trying to
contact the Office, if you currently act as an Attorney or Controller, and have
enquiries regarding your role, you may wish to refer to OCP guidance on the
NICTS website, via the link below. This will allow us to deal with the
most urgent enquiries and make the best use of limited staff resources.
https://www.justice-ni.gov.uk/topics/courts-and-tribunals/office-care-and-protection-patients-section
You can also contact
us by email at: ocp@courtsni.gov.uk
Protecting older people and
vulnerable adults
Our customers are
often the most vulnerable people in society, we ask that they or those who care
for them, keep informed about government recommendations and are well
supported.
The government has published guidance on social
distancing and protecting older people and vulnerable adults