The Court of Protection (CoP) deals with decision-making on health and welfare and on property and affairs. The Court is a superior court of record (a court in which proceedings are recorded and transcripts made available) and is assisted by the activity of the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) and Court of Protection Visitors. The Court of Protection and Office of the Public Guardian work together but have different roles. Essentially, the Court of Protection makes the decisions and the Office of the Public Guardian sorts out the administration. The Court hears approximately 23 000 cases every year.

The Office of the Public Guardian coordinates a panel of Court of Protection Visitors (section 61 of the MCA).

There are two sorts of Court of Protection Visitor:

General Visitors gather information about the person's welfare or running of their estate and have rights to obtain information and interview the person in private. The role of visitors is especially important if there are no relatives or friends to act as a deputy and report problems to the court.

Special Visitors may undertake a private medical, psychiatric or psychological assessment of the person's capacity and condition in order to produce a report for the court.

The purpose of the Visitors’ reports is to help the Public Guardian to supervise deputies and, where necessary, investigate concerns about the actions of deputies or attorneys. The reports also help the Court of Protection to make decisions.

If other authorities are unable to agree on the best interests of a person who lacks capacity, then the Court of Protection will make the decision. In cases where there is uncertainty about whether or not someone can make their own decision about a specific issue, the Court of Protection can also determine whether or not the person lacks capacity to make the decision.