Mr. Jimmy Martin:

Yes. I do not know the number but the answer is yes. In some cases people would have been made a ward of court two or three years ago. They would have been paid because there is a process for paying them. The timescale was that when the 2015 Act was enacted, we were hoping that would commence quite quickly. In those circumstances we were not encouraging anyone to be made a ward of court because it has a lot of downsides and the system envisaged by the 2015 Act is much superior.

When we were discussing with our colleagues on the other side of the house when it would be commenced, it became apparent to us that there was a significant delay in making an arrangement. At that stage we wrote to all the people who had capacity issues. We wrote to their carers suggesting that they might wish to be considered wards of court because it was going to be some time before the 2015 Act was commenced.

We are now reaching the stage where active arrangements are being put in place to commence the 2015 Act.