Over 50,000 Lasting Power of Attorney applications rejected

According to a recent Freedom of Information request, more than 50,000 Lasting Power of Attorney applications were rejected during 2023 / 24.

Of these, 30,180 were financial LPA applications. The remainder comprised 20,738 health and welfare LPAs. Given that the Office of the Public Guardian received 1,370,546 applications, that’s a rejection rate of just over 3.7%.

What is Lasting Power of Attorney?

The idea behind Lasting Power of Attorney is to protect your finances and future care in case you become unable to cope with these things yourself.

An LPA allows you to appoint people as ‘attorneys’. They can make decisions on your behalf if you lose the ability to do so. Most people choose family members as their attorneys, but you can choose anyone. Some people appoint professionals such as accountants or solicitors.

There are two types of Lasting Power of Attorney. The first is a Property and Financial Affairs LPA. This allows your attorneys to administer and decide financial matters for you. For example, they could deal with your bank accounts, pay bills, collect pension payments or trade your investments.

The second type is a Health and Welfare LPA. This gives your attorneys the power to make decisions about your health. This could include deciding on medical care, moving to a care home or employing someone to help you at home.

No-one knows what the future holds. Making Lasting Power of Attorney applications will help ensure that, if your circumstances change, your health and finances will be in the hands of people you trust.

How do I make Lasting Power of Attorney Applications?

You can make a Lasting Power of Attorney applications online. LPA applications are handled by the Office of the Public Guardian.

That said, the process isn’t simple. And as we’ve seen, many people make mistakes that lead to their applications being rejected. Given it takes an average of 76 weeks to process each application, rejections can cause significant problems.

To avoid this, many people ask their accountant or a solicitor to handle their Lasting Power of Attorney applications. This gives them peace of mind that the applications are being handled by a professional who is likely to avoid pitfalls.

Common mistakes in LPA applications

To give you an idea of how easy it is to make errors in LPA applications, we’ve compiled this list of common mistakes.

• Misspelt names. If you spell names wrong, or get names in the wrong order, ID checks will fail.
• Missing information. LPA applications are complicated. It can be tempting to miss out information if you don’t understand a question. If you do, the application will be rejected.
• Witnesses that aren’t eligible. Witnesses must be permitted. For example, a proposed attorney can’t witness the signature of the person who is setting up the LPA. This would be considered a conflict of interest.
• Signatures in the wrong order. Each LPA requires five sets of signatures in the correct date order. Get this wrong and your LPA applications will be rejected.
• Not using black or blue ink. If you use pencil, the LPA will not be accepted.
• Unacceptable corrections. All errors must be crossed out, corrected and initialled. Using correction fluid isn’t acceptable.
• Using the wrong forms. If you use paper forms, they have to be the correct, up-to-date versions.
• Unacceptable instructions. This can be a minefield. If you do things like issue unclear or conflicting instructions, or you make instructions that aren’t acceptable (such as trying to give attorneys the power to change your Will), then the application will fail. This is the biggest reason why it’s best to get professional help when drafting Lasting Power of Attorney applications.

Avoiding mistakes in your applications

If you intend to make LPA applications, it’s vital to get them right first time. As a minimum, get someone with some knowledge of the paperwork to check through your applications before submitting them.

To minimise any risk of errors and delays, we strongly recommend you get professional assistance when drafting your LPAs. We can help you do this – many satisfied people have used our Lasting Power of Attorney Service to take the stress and guesswork out of the process.