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Caring for someone vulnerable

Office of Care & Protection

A Office of Care & Protection can only be put in place if the account owner lacks the capacity to make decisions for themselves.

A magnifying glass over a document.

What is a Office of Care & Protection order?

If there is no Power of Attorney in place and you need to manage someone’s wider financial and/or personal welfare affairs, an application can be made to the Office of Care & Protection (OCP), for you, or someone else to be appointed as a ‘controller’. The court decides if the person nominated is suitable, and if successful, the OCP Order provides the controller with a range of powers which can be used to benefit the patient.

Controllers are usually people with an existing relationship to the protected person such as a family member or close friend, but people acting in a professional capacity such as solicitors or local authorities can also be made attorneys. To learn more about controllership orders or to apply to be a controller, visit the GOV.NI page using the button below.

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What can you do as a controller?

Whilst the court makes the overall decision on what a controller can and cannot do the table below gives an idea of actions a controller can take once registered with us. In the case of multiple controllers it is possible to have more than one controller added to an account but it must be made clear whether they will act 'jointly' or 'joint and severally'.

A controller can

  • Have a Debit card or Online banking for the account/s if several controllers are acting joint and severally.
  • Close accounts that are no longer needed.
  • Open new accounts on behalf of the patient if the instructions in the Office of Care & Protection document allow this.
  • Manage the patients mortgage, including applying for a new mortgage or changing the rates.
Information Message

A controller cannot

  • Have a Debit card or Online banking for the account/s if several controllers are acting jointly.
  • Apply for certain forms of borrowing, for example loans or overdrafts on behalf of the account holder.
  • Act outside the terms set out by the Office of Care & Protection office.
  • Change ownership of the account or add new parties to the account.
Information Message

Registering Office of Care & Protection

Select one of the buttons below to start registering a Office of Care & Protection Order online or in a branch.

If more than one controller is being added, you'll need to register each controller individually online or you can visit a Ulster branch and bring the appropriate documents with you.

All online applications are subject to additional checks and on some occasions a branch visit may be required.

Frequently Asked Questions