What is a lasting power of attorney (LPA)?
A lasting power of attorney is a legal document appointing one or more people to make decisions for you if you cannot make them yourself. There are two types — property and financial affairs, and health and welfare — and each must be registered before it can be used.
An LPA can only be made while you still have mental capacity. That is the whole point of it, and the reason it is so often left too late: once capacity is gone, the only route left is a deputyship application to the Court of Protection, which is slower, more expensive and permanently supervised.
Registration with the Office of the Public Guardian is not instant, and financial institutions then apply their own onboarding processes on top. An LPA sitting unregistered in a drawer is not usable.
Attorneys must act within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 — in the donor's best interests, supporting them to decide for themselves wherever possible, and keeping the donor's money separate from their own.