Lasting power of attorney (LPA): a guide for England and Wales

What is a lasting power of attorney?

It is a document in which you (the donor) appoint one or more attorneys to make decisions for you, including when you no longer have capacity (Mental Capacity Act 2005, section 9). GOV.UK says an LPA made this way is legally binding only in England and Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own systems. Attorneys must follow the Act’s principles and act in your best interests.

A will does something different: it only takes effect when you die, and GOV.UK says an LPA ends automatically at death, when your executors take over. The comparison is set out in will vs lasting power of attorney.

What are the two types of LPA?

You can make either type or both. Each is a separate document with its own fee.

The rule that life-sustaining treatment needs an express power is in section 11(8) of the Act.

Who can be an attorney?

Anyone aged 18 or over who has mental capacity. GOV.UK suggests a relative, friend, husband, wife or partner, or a professional such as a solicitor. For a property and financial affairs LPA, an attorney must not be bankrupt or subject to a debt relief order (section 10).

If you appoint more than one attorney, you choose whether they act jointly (all must agree), jointly and severally (they can act together or alone), or a mix. You can also name replacement attorneys to step in if an attorney can no longer act. Attorneys cannot appoint their own substitutes.

Who can be the certificate provider?

The certificate provider confirms that you understand the LPA and are not being pressured into making it. Under regulation 8 of the Lasting Powers of Attorney, Enduring Powers of Attorney and Public Guardian Regulations 2007, it must be either someone who has known you personally for at least two years, or someone with the professional skills to judge those things, such as a registered healthcare professional, a solicitor or barrister, a registered social worker or an independent mental capacity advocate.

The same regulation rules out your family members, your attorneys and their family members, attorneys under any other LPA or enduring power you have made, business partners and employees of you or your attorneys, and the owner, manager or staff of a care home you live in, or their family. The LP12 guide adds that an unmarried partner of you or an attorney cannot act either.

How do you make a lasting power of attorney?

1. Choose your attorneys, any replacements, a certificate provider and, if you wish, people to be notified when you apply to register.
2. Fill in the forms using the GOV.UK online service or paper forms. Someone else can fill them in for you, but you must make every choice yourself.
3. Print the forms. Everyone signs the same original; copies and digital signatures are not accepted.
4. Sign in the order LP12 sets out: you first, with a witness who signs straight after you; then the certificate provider; then the attorneys and replacement attorneys, each with a witness. You cannot witness your attorneys’ signatures and they cannot witness yours.
5. Send form LP3 to anyone you named to be notified, then send the signed original and the fee to the Office of the Public Guardian.

LP12 says that if the forms are not signed in the correct order, the Office of the Public Guardian will not register the LPA. It also warns that correction fluid or stickers prevent registration and mean paying again for a new LPA.

How much does a lasting power of attorney cost?

Registering an LPA with the Office of the Public Guardian costs £92 for each LPA, so £184 if you make both types. That fee applies to applications received from 17 November 2025, when it rose from £82 and the repeat application fee rose from £41 to £46 (SI 2025/1126, article 4). The current amounts are set in the Public Guardian (Fees, etc) Regulations 2007 and shown on GOV.UK, which says you can pay by card or by cheque payable to the Office of the Public Guardian.

The fees schedule has no charge for the forms or the online service, so if you make the LPA yourself the registration fee is usually the only cost apart from printing and postage. GOV.UK says that whether a mistake can be corrected for the £46 repeat fee depends on the type of mistake. If it cannot, you make a new LPA and pay the full fee again, which is why the signing rules above matter.

Can you pay a reduced fee or nothing?

Yes, depending on the donor’s income or benefits, not the attorneys’. Apply with form LPA120 at the same time as you apply to register. According to GOV.UK’s reduced fee page:

• if the donor’s income before tax is less than £12,000 a year, you pay half;
• if the donor receives one of the means-tested benefits listed on the form when you apply, you pay nothing;
• a donor on Universal Credit is assessed for the 50% reduction, not the exemption;
• the form covers the £46 repeat application fee as well as the £92 fee;
• fees are non-refundable and retrospective refunds are not possible, so claim any reduction or exemption when you apply.

What does it cost to use a professional?

Solicitors set their own fees, which are added to the registration fee. Ask for a fixed fee in writing, and whether it covers acting as certificate provider and sending the application to register. LP12 says you may have to pay a professional to act as your certificate provider, whereas someone who has known you personally for at least two years, and is not ruled out above, can act instead. Professional attorneys usually charge, and LP12 says any fee you agree to pay an attorney must be written into the LPA’s instructions, or they cannot be paid.

How long does LPA registration take?

The Office of the Public Guardian’s service status as of 21 October 2026 says processing and registration take 8 to 10 weeks, including a statutory waiting period of 4 weeks. LP12 recommends applying to register as soon as the LPA is signed, so errors can be fixed while you can still make decisions.

When should you make an LPA?

While you have capacity, because you must have it when you make the LPA (section 9(2)(c)). If you wait until illness makes it necessary, it may be too late, and registration then takes weeks. A planned operation or long spell abroad is a common prompt; see making a will before surgery or travel.

What can an attorney not do?

• Change your will. LP12 says that is outside an attorney’s powers.
• Give away your property freely. A property and financial affairs attorney can only make gifts on customary occasions or to charities you supported, and only of reasonable value given your estate (section 12).
• Make health and welfare decisions while you can make them yourself (section 11(7)).
• Refuse or consent to life-sustaining treatment unless the LPA expressly allows it.

How does an LPA end?

You can revoke an LPA at any time while you have capacity (section 13). GOV.UK says an attorney’s appointment can also end if they die, lose capacity, divorce you or end a civil partnership with you, become bankrupt or subject to a debt relief order (for a property and financial affairs LPA), or are removed by the Court of Protection. Whether the whole LPA ends depends on whether other attorneys or replacements can carry on. It ends automatically when you die.

What happens if you have no LPA?

If you lose capacity without an LPA, nobody automatically has authority over your money and property, not even your spouse. For anything beyond benefits, someone usually has to apply to the Court of Protection to become your deputy. GOV.UK lists a £432 application fee (from 13 July 2026), a £100 assessment fee for a new deputy and an annual supervision fee of £320, or £35 for minimal supervision, and a security bond may be required. Deputies also report to the Office of the Public Guardian every year.

Is the LPA process changing?

A change is planned but not yet in force. The Powers of Attorney Act 2023 will change how LPAs are made and registered once commencement regulations are made. On 22 October 2026, legislation.gov.uk still showed its main provisions as not yet in force, and GOV.UK still required printed forms signed on paper.

Should you use a solicitor for an LPA?

Many people make an LPA themselves using the GOV.UK forms and the LP12 guide. Consider a solicitor if your finances are complex, you own a business, family members disagree, or there is any doubt about your capacity. SwiftWill does not prepare LPAs, so we have no product to sell you here. The same honest test for wills is in do I need a solicitor for a will, and what a will costs is on will cost.

Sources

• GOV.UK: lasting power of attorney, including how to make, register and end one
• Mental Capacity Act 2005, sections 9 to 13
• Lasting Powers of Attorney, Enduring Powers of Attorney and Public Guardian Regulations 2007, regulation 8
• LP12: make and register your lasting power of attorney
• Public Guardian (Fees, etc) Regulations 2007, Schedule (current version)
• Court and Public Guardian Fees (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2025, article 4, and GOV.UK: applying for a reduced fee (LPA120)
• Office of the Public Guardian: service status as of 21 October 2026
• GOV.UK: deputy fees
• Powers of Attorney Act 2023

Sources checked 22 October 2026.