How to use the Court of Protection fixed costs calculator
- Say who the deputy is. A solicitor, a public authority, or another professional deputy on solicitors’ or public authority rates.
- Say what the order provides. Fixed costs, or a detailed assessment, and whether the deputy elects fixed costs instead.
- Add the fees. The application, annual management fees, reports, tax returns, travel and the rest, each with its own date.
- Enter P’s assets and liabilities. For the annual management fees, on the anniversary or at the end of a part year.
- Read the result. Each fee with its paragraph, the version used, VAT where the practice direction allows it, and the total.
The fixed sums
A deputy is entitled to reasonable expenses, and to payment for their work only if the court directs it on appointing them (Mental Capacity Act 2005 s.19(7)). The court may fix that payment by the schedule of fees in a practice direction (Court of Protection Rules 2017 r.19.13), and Practice Direction 19B is that schedule. It applies where the deputy is paid out of P’s estate, not where one party pays another’s costs (para 4); those are summarily assessed or sent for detailed assessment (Court of Protection Rules 2017 r.19.10). The judiciary still lists the version effective from 1 April 2024 as current on 21 October 2026. Every figure is “an amount not exceeding”.
Solicitors’ rates
For solicitors, SRA-regulated trust corporations, chartered legal executives and other deputies the order authorises to take solicitors’ rates (PD 19B (2024) paras 8 and 10; December 2017 text paras 8, 10 and 14).
| Fee | Periods ending on or after 1 April 2024 | Periods ending 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Application: work up to the order appointing a property and affairs deputy | £1,204 + VAT | £950 + VAT |
| Trustee application, or an application under MCA 2005 s.18(1)(j) | £633 + VAT | £500 + VAT |
| Application by an existing deputy under PD 9D para 4 | £633 + VAT | No category |
| Annual management fee, property and affairs: first year | £2,116 + VAT | £1,670 + VAT |
| Annual management fee, property and affairs: later years | £1,672 + VAT | £1,320 + VAT |
| Net assets below the threshold | Below £20,300: 4.5% of net assets + VAT | Below £16,000: 4.5% of net assets (VAT not stated) |
| Health and welfare annual management fee | 2.5% of net assets + VAT, up to £703 | 2.5% of net assets, up to £555 (VAT not stated) |
| Report or account to the Public Guardian | £336 + VAT | £265 + VAT |
| Basic HMRC income tax return | £317 + VAT | £250 + VAT |
| Complex HMRC income tax return | No fixed sum (own firm: 3 quotes) | £600 + VAT |
| Conveyancing | No fixed sum (own firm: 3 quotes) | 0.15% of the price, £400 to £1,670, plus disbursements (not sales or purchases by trustees: agreed with them) |
Public authority rates
For office holders of a public authority, whoever in the authority does the work, and other deputies the order authorises to take public authority rates (PD 19B (2024) paras 16, 18 and 24; December 2017 text paras 16 and 21). No VAT is stated. An order that lets a professional deputy who is not a solicitor charge “fixed costs” without saying which means these lower rates (London Borough of Enfield v Matrix Deputies Ltd [2018] EWCOP 22 at [79](1)).
| Fee | Periods ending on or after 1 April 2024 | Periods ending 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Application: work up to the order appointing a property and affairs deputy | £944 | £745 |
| Trustee application, or an application under PD 9D para 4 | £633 each | No category |
| Annual management fee, property and affairs: first year | £982 | £775 |
| Annual management fee, property and affairs: later years | £824 | £650 |
| Net assets below the threshold | Below £20,300: 3.5% of net assets | Below £16,000: 3.5% of net assets |
| Health and welfare annual management fee | 2.5% of net assets, up to £703 | 2.5% of net assets, up to £555 |
| Annual property management fee | £380 | £300 |
| Report or account to the Public Guardian | £274 | £216 |
| Basic HMRC income tax return | £89 | £70 |
| Complex HMRC income tax return | No fixed sum: a disbursement | £140 |
| Travel (public authority and not-for-profit deputies) | £51 an hour | £40 an hour |
The £20,300 threshold and net assets
Where P’s net assets on the anniversary are below £20,300, the property and affairs annual fee is capped at 4.5% of them for solicitors (plus VAT) and 3.5% for public authorities, in the first year as in later years (PD 19B (2024) paras 10 and 18). A solicitor deputy cannot then apply for assessed costs unless the court makes a specific order (para 12), and an authority to assess given when the estate was larger cannot be relied on (Matrix at [79](5)). “Below” means less than: at exactly £20,300 the full fee applies. Net assets are total assets minus total liabilities, including P’s home (Penntrust Ltd v West Berkshire DC [2020] EWCOP 48 at [64]–[73]; OPG guidance, June 2025; PD 19B (2024) footnotes 2 and 5 (definition)), and capital P is due but has not yet received (footnote 3). The OPG expects a deputy whose fee takes P below £20,300 to be able to justify it (OPG guidance, June 2025).
Part years
Where the deputyship ends before the anniversary, for example on P’s death, the fee is the same proportion of the applicable fee as the period bears to one year (PD 19B (2024) paras 13 and 20). The practice direction does not say how to count the days. The calculator counts both the first and the last day, divides by the length of that management year (366 days if it contains 29 February) and shows the sum, so the working can be checked. Which version applies to a part year turns on the date it ends (para 3).
The 2017 and 2024 rates
The 2024 practice direction applies where the period covered by a fee ends on or after 1 April 2024; earlier periods keep the earlier rates (para 3). The date that counts is the date of the order for the application fee, the anniversary for annual fees, the date of lodging for reports and the date the return is made for tax returns (paras 9, 11, 17 and 19). The whole of an annual fee goes by the anniversary, with no splitting across 1 April 2024. Periods ending before 1 April 2017 may fall under the 2011 version, which this calculator does not cover (PD 19B (2017) para 3; but see para 11, which says 1 January 2017 for solicitors’ annual fees): check those by hand.
VAT and travel
Solicitors’ rates are stated “plus VAT” (PD 19B (2024) paras 8 and 10), at the standard rate of 20% (Value Added Tax Act 1994 s.2(1)). Public authority rates state no VAT. Other deputies permitted to charge may add VAT if they are VAT registered (para 25), for periods ending on or after 1 April 2024; for earlier periods a non-solicitor deputy may add VAT only if the order authorises it (Public Guardian v Riddle [2020] EWCOP 41; OPG guidance, June 2025), so the calculator adds none and says so. The December 2017 text said “plus VAT” for its fixed sums but not for its percentage fees or its conveyancing rate, so the calculator adds no VAT to those and flags them. Travel has a fixed rate only for public authority and other not-for-profit deputies: £51 an hour (para 24). The practice direction does not say whether a deputy on solicitors’ rates may add travel.
Fixed costs or assessment
The order says whether fixed costs apply or there is to be a detailed assessment, and where it provides for assessment the deputy may elect fixed costs instead (PD 19B (2024) para 5). Where the deputy takes assessment, it may take payments on account while the running total stays within 75% of the work in progress for the year or 75% of the estimate given to the OPG, whichever is lower, and must repay any overpayment within 28 days of the final costs certificate (para 6). The bill goes to the Senior Courts Costs Office with Form N258B within 3 months (CPR 47.19(2), applied by Court of Protection Rules 2017 r.19.6), with a court fee of £102 from 13 July 2026 (Civil Proceedings Fees Order 2008 Sch 1, fee 6.1). There is no default costs certificate where costs come out of P’s estate (r.19.6(11)). The calculator never estimates what an assessment would allow.
What the rules leave open
- Whether the £703 health and welfare maximum is before or after VAT (PD 19B (2024) para 10, Category V). The calculator applies it before VAT.
- How to count the days in a part year (paras 13 and 20). The calculator counts inclusively over the length of that year.
- The anniversary of an order made on 29 February. The calculator asks you to check those dates by hand.
- Whether VAT can go on the December 2017 percentage fees. The calculator adds none.
- Whether one deputy for both property and affairs and health and welfare can take both annual fees. The practice direction does not say.
- Whether a deputy whose order provides only for fixed costs can elect assessment without a further order. PD 19B (2024) para 12 says a professional deputy may, if preferred, apply to the SCCO for detailed assessment where fixed costs are not appropriate (unless P’s net assets are below £20,300), and the SCCO Guide 2025 para 27.8 says lodging a bill is enough. But in Matrix [2018] EWCOP 22 at [79](4) an assessment obtained without the order’s authority did not entitle the deputy to the assessed fee, and the OPG follows Matrix. The calculator takes the cautious course: check the order, and if in doubt ask the court.
Related pages
- Costs terms explained: the legal costs glossary
- Costs one party pays another in a civil claim: the N258 detailed assessment request builder
- Every free tool in one place: costs help for solicitors
Sources
- Practice Direction 19B, effective from 1 April 2024 (paras 1 to 25 and footnotes 2, 3 and 5)
- Practice Direction 19B, December 2017 text (paras 3 to 21)
- Court of Protection practice directions (judiciary.uk list of current versions)
- Mental Capacity Act 2005 s.19 (subsection (7))
- Court of Protection Rules 2017 Part 19 (rules 19.2, 19.6, 19.10, 19.13 and 19.14)
- CPR Part 47 (rule 47.19)
- Civil Proceedings Fees Order 2008 Schedule 1 (fee 6.1)
- Form N258B (GOV.UK)
- Senior Courts Costs Office Guide 2025 (section 27)
- Office of the Public Guardian: fixed costs and remuneration of professional and public authority deputies (18 June 2025)
- Penntrust Ltd v West Berkshire DC [2020] EWCOP 48; London Borough of Enfield v Matrix Deputies Ltd [2018] EWCOP 22; Public Guardian v Riddle [2020] EWCOP 41; Re ACC [2020] EWCOP 9