How to register an LPA with the Office of the Public Guardian

A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document created by someone (the Donor) to give another person (the Attorney) the right to make decisions on their behalf, should they no longer be able to. There are two types of LPA: Property and Financial Affairs, and Health and Welfare.

Having an LPA makes managing your affairs much easier for you and your loved ones when you can no longer make decisions yourself.

However, with more than 50,000 Lasting Power of Attorney applications rejected by the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) in 2023-2024 due to errors, we look at how to ensure you register your LPA correctly and the common mistakes to avoid.

How do you register an LPA?

Once you have made your LPA with a professional solicitor, you must register it with the Office of the Public Guardian. You can fill out the forms yourself, but we highly recommend asking your solicitor to do it, not only to ensure they are completed correctly but to ease some of the burden.

How much does it cost to register an LPA?

It costs £82 to register one LPA. If you want to register both a Property and Financial Affairs LPA and a Health and Welfare LPA, you will therefore need to pay £164.

This cost is correct as at 24^th March 2025.

How do I check if someone has an LPA?

You can find out if a loved one has an LPA by applying to search the Office of the Public Guardian’s database.

If you know that your relative or loved one made a Will, you could also ask whoever wrote that Will if they also hold an LPA on file and request to retrieve it.

What does the Office of the Public Guardian do?

The OPG has a statutory duty under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to establish and maintain a register of Lasting Powers of Attorney and Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPAs). It is also responsible for supervising Deputies under the Court of Protection.

Once a Power of Attorney is registered with the OPG, they have the legal right to investigate any complaints about Attorneys by concerned loved ones or social services.

How long does it take to register an LPA with the Office of the Public Guardian?

It normally takes eight to 10 weeks to register an LPA with the OPG, however, in some cases, it is taking up to 20 weeks.

One reason why registering an LPA could be delayed is avoidable mistakes in the application.

How to avoid delays with the OPG

Most errors that delay the process of LPA registrations are easily avoidable and happen when things are rushed.

Top tips for avoiding a delay:

• Check you’re using the right form! As there are two types of LPA, many people accidentally use the wrong one, i.e. a health and welfare form, instead of the property and finance form and if you are creating both types of LPA do not mix up the pages between the two forms.
• Don’t overlook the ‘life-sustaining treatment’ tick box. This box is a matter of life and death, so think about your wishes carefully and make sure they’re clear.
• Use full names (not initials), including middle names.
• Use black or blue ink, not a pencil!
• Double-check all names, dates of birth and addresses for you and your Attorney/s.
• Check for contradictions; a common mistake people make (without realising) is appointing Attorneys to act jointly and missing instructions that require a majority vote.
• Check your witnesses are eligible; Attorneys cannot witness a Donor’s signature and vice versa.
• Sign your LPA in the right order; the Donor signs it first, then the Certificate Provider, then the Attorney/s. The person registering the LPA (Donor or Attorney) must then sign it again.
• Get someone to double-check it; this can be a trusted family member or your solicitor.

The best way to avoid mistakes when writing and submitting an LPA is to instruct a solicitor who specialises in Lasting Powers of Attorney.

What happens if your LPA is rejected?

If you make a mistake when submitting your LPA, the OPG will reject it and it will not be legally valid. This means that should you lose capacity in that timeframe, your loved ones will not be able to rely on your LPA.

If your LPA is rejected, you will need to write a new one and submit it again, paying an additional fee. Even if your LPA is approved by the OPG, there may be hidden errors which could make it difficult to use or unusable in the future, such as incorrect spellings of names or a wrong date of birth.

Contact our LPA solicitors in Bristol

Losing the capacity to manage your personal affairs can happen at any point; not just as we grow older. If you cannot deal with your finances or make decisions concerning your health and welfare, having a Power of Attorney in place enables your loved ones to help you or act on your behalf.

To speak to a member of our team about what might be the right Power of Attorney for you, call us on 0117 325 2929 or fill out our online enquiry form. You can also find out more about how we can help with later-life planning here.