Zena Bolwig, Chair of PDF Health & Welfare Sub Committee & Partner at Keystone Law

I am delighted to announce that the Professional Deputies Forum has expanded its offering to welcome health and welfare professional deputies, and those who work alongside them. 

  This is an important development for the PDF and for the wider Court of Protection community. The PDF has broadened its existing membership categories so that health and welfare practitioners can join as deputies, seniors or associates. It has also established a new health and welfare sub-committee, which I have the privilege of chairing, and created a reduced-rate membership for Court of Protection health and welfare practitioners who practise under a Legal Aid franchise and do not undertake any Court of Protection property and affairs deputyship work.

Since its establishment, the PDF has provided an environment within which property and affairs deputies, and those who work alongside them, can share views, news and best practice, and provide a channel for the collective voice of professional property and affairs deputies to be heard by the Office of the Public Guardian, the Ministry of Justice, the Court of Protection and the Law Society. The PDF has grown swiftly in membership, impact and reputation, establishing itself as one of the leading professional membership organisations in the mental capacity and Court of Protection sphere. 

As Court of Protection practice has developed since the PDF’s inception, and as the PDF’s membership, engagement and impact have grown, it has become increasingly apparent that PDF members do not act in a vacuum of property and affairs alone. Their daily work and decision-making weave and intertwine with health and welfare issues daily. Despite this, property and affairs and health and welfare practitioners have, for too long, operated largely in parallel, even though the people at the centre of our work rarely experience their lives in such separate compartments. Decisions about capacity and best interests regarding residence, care, contact, deprivation of liberty, treatment, funding, travel and safeguarding frequently overlap welfare and finance considerations. 

Health and welfare practitioners who do not practice in firms with professional deputies will now be able to join the PDF, benefit from its collaborative networks and training resources, and contribute their own expertise. Existing members will also benefit from increased dialogue, consultation and shared learning between two areas of the profession that have too often operated separately. The PDF aims to strengthen links and understanding between health and welfare and property and affairs professional deputies, and those who work alongside them, encouraging

constructive dialogue and a better understanding of each other’s roles. The opportunity for practitioners across both disciplines to share expertise, identify common challenges and promote consistent, person-centred practice is therefore hugely valuable. 

As a solicitor specialising in both health and welfare and property and affairs mental capacity work, although not myself a professional deputy, I have seen first-hand the value of PDF membership. The members’ forum, guidance, webinars and expertise of professional deputies within the PDF have deepened my understanding of the daily challenges faced by those in this field, and this has positively impacted my day-to-day practice and ability to advise and support my clients. 

I am very pleased to support this new endeavour, and I warmly encourage eligible health and welfare practitioners to consider joining the PDF and become part of its practical, inclusive and supportive community. This expansion offers a valuable opportunity to strengthen practice across the Court of Protection landscape, ultimately for the benefit of the people at the heart of our work. 

Health & Welfare Membership options are now available. Contact admin@deputiesforum.co.uk for more details.