LPAs under review

On Tuesday 20^th July 2021, the MOJ and OPG announced the launch of a consultation designed to strengthen and modernise the process of managing a loved one’s affairs. The intention is to shift the process to a predominantly digital service, making it simpler and easier to use, and introduce new and improved safeguards to protect against fraud and abuse.

An LPA is a legal document which allows people to appoint someone else (an attorney) to make decisions about their welfare, money or property. They are often used by older people to choose someone they know and trust to make decisions for them were they to lose capacity in the future - but can be made by anyone over the age of 18.

The 12-week consultation will examine the entire process of creating and registering an LPA and will examine how technology can be used to reform the process of witnessing, improve access and speed up the service.

The consultation will propose widening the OPG’s legal powers to check identities and stop or delay any registrations that raise concern. It will also look at making the process for objecting to the registration of an LPA simpler to help stop potentially abusive LPAs.

The proposed changes will fundamentally alter and update a process that has been in place for decades. While the service will become predominantly digital, alternatives such as paper will remain for those unable to use the internet.

The full proposals can be found here