Guardianship

When someone goes missing their family or loved ones may want or need to look after their financial and legal affairs.

What is guardianship?

As well as experiencing emotional trauma, families can also face practical, financial and legal problems as a result of their loved one being missing. Some families may even face difficulties to do the most basic things. This includes ensuring their loved one’s home and finances are maintained and their dependants cared for. They may face further issues if a family member has joint assets or liabilities with the missing person. Equally, if they are financially dependent on them. In the worst cases, finances may be damaged beyond repair and homes repossessed.

The Guardianship (Missing Persons) Act, passed in 2017 and enacted in 2019, gives people the legal powers to manage a missing person’s affairs until their return.

After identifying the need for new legislation we led the campaign for guardianship powers for nine years. This was only possible thanks to the support of family members with experience of a missing loved one. If you are a family looking for guidance on how you can apply for guardianship of your missing loved one’s affairs, or on any of the financial and legal issues raised on this page, see our Family Guidance pages.

Scotland – A new campaign

Following the success of the campaign for guardianship in England and Wales, we are hoping that a similar system will be introduced in Scotland. We have already begun campaigning and hope to see the necessary progress soon. We need to hear from families who live in Scotland who have had a loved one go missing and experienced difficulties with financial and legal affairs. If you would be happy to talk to us about your experience please email policyandresearch@missingpeople.org.uk.

Need support?

If you have a missing loved one and need advice about guardianship, follow the link below to our help pages.

Get support

The campaign journey for guardianship

  • The roots of the campaign

    The campaign for a system of guardianship was part of Missing People’s wider Missing Rights campaign, launched in December 2010.

    The campaign was grounded in our research report, ‘Living in Limbo: The experiences of, and impacts on, the families of missing people’, further research with families, and our day to day work with them. The charity additionally engaged connected institutions, including financial trade bodies, to ensure that their views informed the development of charity’s guardianship proposals.

  • Exploring guardianship in Westminster

    In early 2011, financial and legal issues faced by families of missing people was a focus of a meeting held by All-Party Parliamentary Group for Runaway and Missing Children and Adults. Following this, the APPG held an inquiry into support for this group, and guardianship was the theme for one of the four sessions. Following this, the Justice Select Committee then considered guardianship within its inquiry into presumption of death. Both took evidence from a range of stakeholders, and made similar recommendations to the Coalition Government of the time around exploring guardianship:

    ‘The inquiry recommends that the Ministry of Justice provides a framework for consultation on… guardianship provisions, exploring the evidence base that exists in… relation to guardianship in Australia. The Inquiry recommends that this framework, along with a timetable for future action, should be in place by the end of the current session, with any resulting provisions to be implemented by the end of the current Parliament.’ APPG for Runaway and Missing Children and Adults

    ‘We recommend that the Government take steps to introduce provision for ‘guardianship’ orders modelled on the approach adopted by states in Australia, either via the introduction of the presumption of death legislation we have recommended, or some alternative legislative mechanism. This will protect the financial position of the missing person and his or her dependents.’ Justice Select Committee

    The government responded that ‘before any final decision is reached on the need for legislation to create a status of guardian for the affairs of a missing person within England and Wales there needs to be a detailed examination of the issues involved.’

  • Consultation on guardianship

    In June 2013, the government announced proposals to introduce a new power of guardianship, stating that ‘a consultation with detailed proposals is due to be launched later this year with a view to taking a final decision in 2014.’

    “When a person disappears with no explanation, their friends and family are left with an unbelievable amount to cope with… That is why we want to put measures in place so they can make alternative arrangements for the legal and financial affairs of their missing loved one. By having guardianship powers in place in those early months we can reduce some of the burdens when people’s lives are turned upside down.” Former Justice Minister, Helen Grant MP

    Missing People made a submission to the consultation, which can be found here (and its appendix here) LINK. The outcome of the consultation was positive. As mentioned already the government made a statement, which can be seen here, announcing its intention to introduce guardianship legislation following the consultation.

  • Activity in Parliament

    Our Parliamentary supporters took part in a number of activities to encourage the government to allow parliamentary time for the new legislation that they had committed to supporting. This included 46 signing Early Day Motions, many asking questions orally and in writing and debates on the matter to maintain pressure on the Government. This activity also increased media interest in the issue, with a number of national papers and TV broadcasters covering the need for guardianship. We worked with a number of MPs to lobby the Government directly; we held events in parliament to brief interested parliamentarians and to raise awareness of the campaign; we also tried to get it mentioned in the Queen’s Speech and supported Baroness Hamwee’s Private Members’ Bill, which was read on 14 June 2016 but was later withdrawn due to new activity.

    In January 2017 Kevin Hollinrake MP introduced a Ten Minute Rule Bill in the House of Commons. This bill successfully passed all the Commons stages in just under 11 weeks, with its Third Reading taking place on 24 March 2017. The bill then passed to the House of Lords where it experienced similar success. The bill’s passage through the legislative process received support from all parties, as well as the Ministry of Justice:

    “I can assure the House that the Government support the Bill and that we will do everything in our power to introduce those regulations, so that they can come into force as soon as practicable… I am delighted to commend the Bill to the House.” Sam Gyimah MP Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

    “We on these Benches are more than happy to support the Bill at its Second Reading. It provides a much-needed remedy to the sometimes devastating financial and legal problems faced by the families of missing persons as a result of a gap in the law, which has remained unfilled for far too long… So I urge your Lordships to lend support to this fine Bill and to help ease at least the practical burdens—if not, unfortunately, the ongoing emotional suffering—of those families who continue to wait for news of a loved one or their return.” The Baroness Chakrabarti CBE, Labour, Shadow Attorney General

    “The Government are committed to helping those left behind by the traumatic and disruptive event that is the disappearance of a family member. The number of cases in which the remedy will be used may not be huge, but the effect of each of those disappearances on those caught up in them can be severe and traumatic.” Lord Keen of Elie QC, Lords Spokesperson (Ministry of Justice)

  • Campaign success

    Kevin Hollinrake MP’s Private Members Bill successfully passed its Third Reading in the House of Lords on 27 April 2017 and received Royal Assent on the same day.

    The law was expected to be fully enacted in May 2018, at which point it was hoped that families with a missing person could start applying for guardianship powers. However, in April 2018 delays to this timeline were announced.

  • Delays to introducing the new law

    Despite initial assurance that the law would be brought into force one year after Royal Assent, delays were announced in April 2018. The Ministry of Justice has suggested that the necessary secondary legislation would not be introduced until October 2018 at the earliest and possibly not until 2019.

    This further delay left hundreds of families who desperately needed the legislation in limbo. The charity, alongside the families who had championed the issue by generously sharing their own experience of missing a loved one, continued to campaign to get work reprioritised. In late 2018, the Ministry of Justice announced that the bill would be enacted in July 2019. Shortly afterwards they released a consultation that Missing People, with input from families of missing people, submitted a response to. The charity then worked closely with the MoJ to develop the code of practice to sit alongside the new legislation.

  • The legislation is enacted

    On 31 July 2019, the legislation was enacted and families were able to begin making applications to look after their missing loved one’s affairs.

    Missing People is very grateful to Clifford Chance LLP for its pro bono support throughout the charity’s work on guardianship.

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