The Court of Protection which controls the finances of some of Britain’s most vulnerable people charges people £400 to apply for their cash, and also takes an average of four months to release it.

The latest revelation about the court comes following an investigation in the Mail on Sunday which follows widespread concerns over the running of the court.

The court, which has received almost 4,000 complaints from the public in the past two years, looks after money belonging to people with dementia or other forms of mental incapacity.  

It holds assets of £2.7 billion at the Bank of England in an account that pays a rate of only 0.5% interest.

People are charged an average of £400to have their applications for access to the money processed.

When asked how long it could take to release funds, which relatives might need to pay for care fees or bills, officials replied that ittook 16 weeks on average, which less than the court’s 21-week target for ruling on most cases involving management of the finances and welfare of people unable to make decisions themselves.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw has now requested a judge to review the operation of the court following revelations in the Mail on Sunday showed the some of the difficulties of families of those under its protection.

Examples of complaints received include:

• Court officials paid the proceeds of a house sale into the wrong account.
• l A relative was accused of abusive behaviour towards a court official on a visit to his home – even though the official had never visited him.
• l One claimant was charged £4,100 in legal fees to withdraw £5,800 of their own money.
• l Elderly clients died before requests for cash were agreed.

A spokesman for the court said that recent applications to move funds from the court’s account at the Bank of England have generally been much quicker.

“We have had around 190 such applications since August and they are taking, on average, about seven weeks to process.  There is no backlog of applications to take funds.”