A little over twelve months ago I was appointed by the Court of Protection to look after the financial affairs of my elderly mother who sadly has dementia. Once appointed all 'deputies' are supervised by the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) and one of the requirements is the production of an annual report which then has to be submitted to the OPG so they can ensure the deputy is fulfilling their responsibilities.
I produced my first annual report recently and submitted it in time for the deadline on 15th June. It was therefore a surprise to receive a letter from the OPG on the due date which stated:
"Our records show that the report has still not been received." It went on to say: "Please note that it may take up to 3 weeks for your report to be processed. if you sent us your report over 3 weeks ago and have not received an acknowledgement letter, please contact us.
If you have returned your report in the last few days please ignore this letter and accept my apologies for any inconvenience this has caused."
This does seem like an extraordinary waste of a letter! My guess is that most deputies will submit their report in the last week or so prior to the deadline - aren't most people just too busy to schedule things weeks in advance? Given that why write before the deadline - particularly as the letter suggests they have at least several days and possibly up to 3 weeks backlog of post. Given the pressure on the public sector to achieve cost savings I also question the cost of producing this letter and posting it - it cost 53 pence. And of course there's also the deputy 'experience' - what they think and how they feel about being reminded without the OPG being sure that the report hasn't already been received.
I can only conclude that they just don't see the flaws in sending the letter when they do. I suspect it was part of the process when they had no backlogs and that someone added the final paragraph when they developed backlogs - raher than thinking about more deeply about when is the right time to send it. And I suspect that's how many of the silly processes and procedures come up - people working in it are so familiar that they stop seeing the flaws. Like fish who can't see the water they're swimming in......
This one struck me as 'silly'. Please add your examples .......
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