COP3 capacity assessment: who can do it, what it costs, how to ask

Part A must be completed by the Applicant.

Once Part A is completed, Part B must be completed by an appropriate assessor.

Assessors who may be appropriate include medical practitioners [and] social care professionals.

Question 4.2 gives two examples of the professional relationship it means: a social worker, or the person's GP. The current file is edition 01.24, 21 pages. GOV.UK's page still says it was last updated on 14 July 2023, because the file was replaced without changing the page date (checked 10 October 2026).

The 2017 edition (12.17) said the practitioner may be a registered medical practitioner, for example the person's GP, psychiatrist, approved mental health professional, social worker, psychologist, nurse or occupational therapist.

The edition in use today names medical practitioners and social care professionals. Guidance that still says "a doctor, nurse or qualified professional" is following the 2017 list. A nurse is not named; nor is anyone ruled out by name, because the list is introduced by "include".

Question 4.2: the nature of their professional relationship with the person, and confirmation that their opinion is free from conflict of interest.

Question 4.3: their qualifications, training and practical experience of assessing capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and its Code of Practice. Anyone assessing in a professional capacity, or for payment, must have regard to the Code (s.42(4)(e) and (f)).

A relative who is making the application is unlikely to meet 4.2. That is our reading of the question, not a rule written in the form.

The Mental Capacity Act 2005. A person lacks capacity if, at the time a decision needs to be made, they cannot make it because of an impairment of, or a disturbance in the functioning of, the mind or brain. They cannot make it if they cannot understand the information, retain it, use or weigh it, or communicate their decision. It is decided on the balance of probabilities.

Two safeguards come first: every practicable step to help them decide must have been tried (s.1(3)), and an unwise decision is not, on its own, a lack of capacity (s.1(4)).

It is about the particular decision, not decisions in general. The statutory Code says a formal assessment is called for whenever the Court of Protection has to decide whether a person lacks capacity, and that complex decisions may need a professional opinion, such as a psychiatrist's, a psychologist's or a social worker's.

In practice the assessor is a GP or consultant who knows the person, a social worker already involved, or an independent social worker, psychiatrist or psychologist paid privately.

Check them on the register yourself: social workers with Social Work England (England) or Social Care Wales (Wales); psychologists and therapists with the HCPC; doctors with the GMC.

London Borough of Havering: £330 a COP3, for Court of Protection applications made by someone else where the council is not a party. It used to be free. This is one council's decision from August 2022; we found no current fee page, and no other council that charges.

• If the person already has a lasting or enduring power of attorney, GOV.UK says they do not usually need a deputy.
• If you only look after their benefits, apply to become an appointee instead of a deputy.
• If they still have capacity, they can make a lasting power of attorney. It is not free: £92 to register each one, £184 for both kinds, and they must have capacity when they make it.
• For one important decision, the court can make a one-off order. GOV.UK's guide to applying lists a COP3 among the forms, so the assessment is still needed.