We explain how to set up Power of Attorney, including Power of Attorney costs and how to use and register it.
How to set up Power of Attorney
To give someone the authority to act on your behalf, you’ll need to set up a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) and then register this agreement with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG).
The LPA has to be submitted by the donor (the person whose finances or health and welfare it covers) or their attorneys can register it if the donor has lost capacity.
There are two types of Lasting Power of Attorney – property and financial affairs, and health and welfare. You can set them both up the same way, but will need to submit two applications.
You can do this yourself or get a solicitor to handle the application for you.
It’s not possible to set up Power of Attorney for someone who has lost mental capacity. Instead, members of their family will have to apply to the Court of Protection to be appointed as their deputies. Find out more in our guide Court of Protection: managing affairs without Power of Attorney.
Lasting Power of Attorney forms
To register a Power of Attorney, you’ll need to submit the following forms to the Office of the Public Guardian.
- LP1F – to register a LPA for financial decisions
- LP1H – to register a LPA for health and care decisions
You’ll also need to send out form LP3 people to anyone identified as a ‘person to be told’.
How do I register a Power of Attorney?
Here, we explain how to set up and register a Power of Attorney.
1. Choose an attorney to act on your behalf
In the Power of Attorney forms, you’ll be asked to give details of the attorneys you wish to appoint and the capacity in which you want them to act (jointly or ‘jointly and severally’).
Being able to act severally means each attorney can use the Power of Attorney independently. This is a great advantage when attorneys live some distance apart.
Banks and building societies normally ask for one of the joint attorneys to be identified as the ‘lead’, but unless they can act severally, their scope for manoeuvre is severely limited
It’s possible to impose various restrictions and conditions on your attorneys, although these may be rejected if they are unworkable.
Take care if you only appoint one attorney and they own property with you. If you lost mental capacity, your attorney would have to choose another person to act as a ‘trustee’ before the property could be sold.
2. Get signatures from certificate providers
The forms must be signed by a ‘certificate provider’ (often your doctor) who attests to your understanding (capacity), and by each of the attorneys you have chosen.
You, your attorneys and your witnesses will all need to sign the forms before they’re submitted.
3. Notify ‘people to be told’ with LP3 forms
In the Power of Attorney forms, you’ll be asked to identify ‘people who need to be told’ – meaning people who should know that you are planning to register a Power of Attorney.
If you’ve identified anyone here, make sure you send them a notification form (LP3). They have three weeks to raise any concerns with the OPG.
But you don’t need to name anyone in this section if you choose not to (and your relatives don’t have a right to be informed unless you name them).
4. Submit Power of Attorney forms to OPG
Once the Power of Attorney forms have been signed, you need to return them to the OPG with payment.
If you’ve used the government’s online service to create your LPA, you’ll still have to print out the forms and sign them when you are finished.
If not, you’ll need to fill in sections 12 to 15 of the paper forms, and send them to the Office of the Public Guardian.
It can take between eight and 10 weeks to register a Lasting Power of Attorney. Currently, it’s taking up to 20 weeks due to delays at the OPG.
5. Register your Power of Attorney
Once the OPG is satisfied, it will send back a stamped copy of the Power of Attorney, showing that it has been accepted and registered.
Without the stamp of the OPG, an LPA is not valid and can’t be used.
You can choose who the registered Power of Attorney is returned to, and either store it for safe-keeping yourself or pass it on to your attorney.
If you have used a solicitor to make your application, they will often keep the PoA until one of your attorneys asks for it. You should obtain certified copies of the PoA, using these with banks and other institutions as required while keeping the original safe.
Although a new digital ‘Use a lasting power of attorney’ tool was launched in June 2020, allowing attorneys and donors to share the details of their LPAs with third parties online, in a small number of cases the physical LPA (or a certified copy of it) still needs to be shared.
How much does a Power of Attorney cost?
When you return the signed Power of Attorney forms to the OPG, you’ll also need to submit payment.
The fee per Power of Attorney is £82 in England and Wales – so if you want to register a property and financial affairs LPA, and a health and welfare LPA, it’ll cost you £164.
In Scotland the fee is £81, and in Northern Ireland it’s £151.
If you earn less than £12,000, you can apply for a 50% reduction. You may also qualify for an exemption if you’re on certain benefits, such as Income Support.
Some people prefer to get their Power of Attorney prepared by a solicitor. This can prevent mistakes which sometimes cause an application to be rejected, but the cost of applying through a solicitor is considerably higher – some charge as much as £500, plus the £82 OPG fee.
- If you’d like to set up a Power of Attorney, for yourself, or someone else, Which? can help – find out which option is best for you, and until the end of Feb all Packages come with 50% off.
How do I get certified copies of Power of Attorney?
To act as an attorney, you will need certified copies of the original Power of Attorney. These are accepted by banks and other institutions and prevent any risk of the original (stamped by the OPG) getting lost.
A normal photocopy is not sufficient, unless it has been countersigned by the donor while they still have capacity. But to be valid, such copies must have the following:
- At the bottom of each page, the donor must write: ‘I certify this is a true and complete copy of the corresponding page of the original Lasting Power of Attorney.’
- On the final page of the copy, the donor must write: ‘I certify this is a true and complete copy of the Lasting Power of Attorney.’ Every page must be signed and dated.
Most solicitors will provide certified copies of the OPG document for a very modest charge, even if they didn’t provide the original Power of Attorney.
How do I use Power of Attorney with a bank?
Most attorneys for property and financial affairs deal with the donor’s bank.
Before you can do this, you have to go through another registration process with the bank. Be aware that each bank has its own registration process, so the steps may below may not apply in all cases.
1. Register a Power of Attorney with a bank
When you register with the donor’s bank, they will need to see:
- The original LPA document stamped by the OPG (or a certified copy, signed by a solicitor)
- Proof of each attorney’s identity (their passport, or a driving licence)
- Proof of each attorney’s address (a recent utility bill)
In branch, the bank takes photocopies of the Power of Attorney form and supporting documents. If there are joint attorneys, each one can normally have their documents copied separately at their local branch. If registration is done by post, everything needs to be sent – including supporting documentation.
If you are dealing with the affairs of someone with accounts at more than one bank, you will have to go through the registration process several times.
In 2018, Which? research found that many attorneys encounter problems during the registration process. So make sure you have all the documentation to hand when dealing with banks.
2. Declare the donor’s capacity
If you wish to act as someone’s Attorney with a bank, it may require you to make a declaration about whether the donor still has capacity (continuing to sign cheques and receive statements and correspondence, for example) or whether they lack capacity, in which case the attorneys take over entirely.
No medical evidence is required for this, although attorneys must report the donor’s condition accurately.
If the donor lacks capacity, they will no longer be able to issue cheques or authorise withdrawals from their account, for example. If they have capacity, but require an attorney to act on their behalf for certain transactions due to physical incapacity, for example, they can continue to make withdrawals and issue cheques independently.
Find out more: our financing later life care and end of life guides offer free, independent and practical advice about caring for older people across the UK.
3. Making payments with a Power of Attorney
Most banks will give you telephone and online access to the donor’s account, in addition to being able to give instructions in branch and sign cheques. This is not always the case, however, especially where the donor still has capacity.
Other points of difference include the issuing of cheque books to attorneys and the automatic forwarding of duplicate statements.
Some banks provide cheque books with the attorney’s name printed together with that of the donor, while others expect attorneys to sign cheques which bear the donor’s name. Statements are normally sent to attorneys where requested, but not all banks forward them automatically
4. Applying for accounts or credit with a Power of Attorney
Applying for a new Isa in the name of a donor is allowed by most banks, as is opening new savings accounts- so having Power of Attorney on your account doesn’t mean you have to miss out on tax-free interest or the best rates.
Borrowing is normally discouraged. Very few banks permit a Power of Attorney credit card, and the use of an overdraft facility is similarly restricted.
The OPG has produced a guide for Attorneys in conjunction with the British Bankers Association (BBA) and the Building Societies Association (BSA).
Attorney’s duty of care
Acting as an attorney obliges you to maintain a duty of care to the donor, not to benefit yourself. It’s important to avoid any potential conflicts of interest.
Specifically, you must keep the donor’s money and property separate from your own and keep accurate accounts in all of your dealings as an attorney.
How do I cancel my Power of Attorney?
As long as the donor still has mental capacity, they can end the lasting power of attorney.
To do this, you’ll need to send the OPG the original Power of Attorney, as well as a written statement called a ‘deed of revocation’.
You can find the wording for this deed at the government’s power of attorney guide.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
The process for setting up Power of Attorney in regions other than England and Wales is slightly different.
Once your Power of Attorney is registered, the process for using it with banks is much the same as in England and Wales.
We explain the key points below.
Scotland
To register your Power of Attorney, you’ll need to submit forms to the Office of the Public Guardian in Scotland – either online or via post.
You’ll need to submit the PoA document, alongside the schedule 1 Certificate registration form and fee (which is currently £79).
Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland, your Power of Attorney must be registered with the Office of Care and Protection.
You’ll first need to notify certain people via an EP1 form. You can then send the signed Enduring Power of Attorney and the form EP2 to the Office of Care and Protection, along with the £151 fee.
