Lasting Powers of Attorney
Don’t wait until it’s too late – set up a Lasting Power of Attorney now
When you give power of attorney to someone you trust, they will be able to manage your affairs for you, should you become unable to do so.
It’s never too soon to set one up – because you never know when you might need someone to help you in this way. When that time comes, things often happen very quickly.
Choose someone you trust
The person you choose as your power of attorney can be a relative, friend or someone in a professional capacity. It’s vital that it’s someone you trust.
If you choose someone in a professional capacity, bear in mind that they will charge a fee each time they act on your behalf.
Pursuing NHS Continuing Healthcare
If you’re in a care home and you believe you’re being wrongly forced to pay for care, you will almost certainly need someone to help you challenge that decision and pursue NHS Continuing Healthcare funding to cover your care fees. If the person helping you has a Lasting Power of Attorney, it makes it much easier.
Mental capacity
It’s important to bear in mind that once you lack the mental capacity to make safe decisions for yourself, you can no longer set up a Lasting Power of Attorney. That’s why it’s vital to do it now.
If you lose mental capacity and you haven’t appointed someone to be your power of attorney, one of your relatives or friends would then have to contact the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG). The OPG would then appoint a Deputy to manage your affairs. This takes time and is expensive.
The Deputy could be a member of your family or, if you don’t have any willing relatives, it could be a solicitor. In this case your savings would be used to pay for their services. It’s much better – and much kinder to your family – if you set up a Lasting Power of Attorney now, while you still can.
Do it now
There are two types of Lasting Power of Attorney:
- Property and financial affairs
- Health and welfare
Many people say that they’ll wait until they need one before setting one up. By the time you need one, it’s often too late.
Plus, once you’ve sent off the forms, the Court of Protection takes several months to register them, and in the meantime your power of attorney’s hands are completely tied.
Do it now. Having a power of attorney set up and ready to use makes no difference to your day-to-day life now. But once you have set one up, it can be used the moment you need it, with no delays.
You can also find out more from Direct.gov. For Northern Ireland: Office of Care and Protection and for Scotland: Office of the Public Guardian (Scotland).
