The Deposit Protection Service, owned by Computershare, has a new managing director, Julian Foster.

He takes over from the likeable and astute Kevin Firth, now appointed managing director of Computershare’s Registry Services.

Firth was instrumental in setting up the custodial tenancy deposit scheme in the UK from scratch, and worked extraordinarily hard to get the messages across.

Foster, his successor, is an existing employee of Computershare and will have to work possibly even harder. He will multi-task,  as he also continues in his role as managing director of both its Childcare Voucher Services and Sales Extras businesses.

Foster said: “I’m delighted to be joining the DPS which plays such a vital and effective role in the lives of landlords and tenants.

“Kevin was at the forefront of the development of the Government’s deposit protection strategy from 2005, and under his leadership the DPS has become both the largest deposit protection service in the UK and the leading voice within the industry.”

Foster will also be responsible for the DPS organisations in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The DPS is now safeguarding over £1bn of tenants’ money, with more than 1.2m deposits protected across England and Wales. Since inception in 2007, the DPS has protected over 3.5m deposits, worth over £2.8bn in total.

* Separately, the DPS announced that applications are being invited from charities that help homeless people in its next round of funding.

The DPS has £20,000 to give to causes that may – on past track record – give housing advisory services and help homeless men with personal development, including how to cook.

Applications close on March 31.

More information can be found here