A damning report into the first 12 months of the body charged with protecting people lacking mental capacity to make decisions for themselves has revealed a track record of delays, inaccurate information and inefficiency.

The body, the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), came into being with the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005, implemented in 2007. Its responsibilities include registering the new lasting powers of attorney (LPA), which have extended the scope of enduring powers of attorney.

Rosie Varley, chairwoman of the Public Guardian Board, the report’s publishers, said the OPG had succeeded in raising awareness of the MCA 2005, but there had been ‘disruption and delays caused by a surge of demand’ for the new LPAs – a backlog of more than 7,000 outstanding applications in July – and ‘operational difficulties introducing new processes’.

Varley called for a review of the 2005 act and the transfer of the Court of Protection to the Courts Service.