In the UK, 250,000 people go missing each year. Although
98% of missing people return or are located within a week, for the families and
friends of those who are not, the trauma and distress can be met by increasing financial,
legal and practical difficulties.
When a person is missing, families can struggle to keep
their loved one’s affairs in order. Banks, insurance companies and other
financial institutions will often refuse to discuss issues with anyone other
than the specific client - if that client is the missing relative, there is
nothing the family can do. Finances can be damaged beyond repair and in the
worst cases, homes are at risk of being lost – affecting not only the missing
person but their loved ones too.
As part of the Missing Rights campaign, Missing People
has been campaigning for a new scheme of legal guardianship that would allow a
family member to apply for the right to manage the affairs of their missing
relative.
The campaign, supported by MPs, families of missing
people and our supporters, led to the Justice Minister Lord Faulks QC announcing
proposals to introduce a new power of guardianship. However, to date there has
been no timetable for its introduction. Many families have been waiting for
this law for years, and the impact of this delay means the emotional trauma
they experience is exacerbated by the legal and financial difficulties they
face. Missing People is campaigning for a timetable of the scheme’s
introduction to be urgently announced.
Please support our campaign for a scheme of legal
guardianship by using our online tool
to ask your MP to sign EDM 733, calling on the government to urgently commit to
a parliamentary timetable on its proposal.
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