The Bill aims to modernise the process of lasting power of attorney (LPA) applications and make it easier to obtain certified copies of LPAs. It includes provision for the following:

• Applications to register LPAs to be made digitally and/or on paper.
• The donor to be permitted to apply to register an LPA only, removing the ability for attorneys to register.
• Regulations to be introduced to allow those involved in making an LPA (the donor, attorney or certificate provider) to select whether to sign the LPA digitally or on paper.
• An electronic form to be evidence of registration rather than a paper ‘office copy’, as currently.
• Chartered legal executives to be allowed to certify LPAs (by amendment to the Powers of Attorney Act 1971).
• The role of the certificate provider to be reviewed and consideration to be given to whether the:
  • roles of witness and certificate provider should be combined; and
  • certificate does, in fact, confirm the capacity of the donor.
• The OPG to be responsible for notifying named persons that an LPA is being registered and that it will no longer be the responsibility of the donor.
• The donor to be able to request that the OPG dispense with notification if there are special circumstances.
• Regulations to be made to govern identification verification requirements. The regulations will set out how this will be achieved and who involved should have their identity checked. This could be the donor, certificate provider, attorneys and replacement attorneys.
• All objections to registration to be made to the OPG, with the ability for anyone to make an objection, not only the donor, attorney or named person, as currently, where:
  • only objections on factual grounds (e.g., due to an attorney’s bankruptcy) can be made to the OPG;
  • objections on ‘prescribed grounds’ (e.g., that the donor lacked mental capacity to make the LPA) must be made to the Court of Protection (CoP);
  • the government had also flagged in the response to the consultation that it will continue to investigate the appropriate length of the statutory waiting period; and
  • the detail in the Bill provides that, in the absence of evidence to reasonably support the objection, the OPG will be required to register the LPA. However, if there is such evidence then the LPA can only be registered if an application is made to the CoP and it directs the OPG to register the LPA.

Why is it needed?

Introducing the Bill, Metcalfe told the House of Commons that the OPG is ‘drowning in paperwork’, noting that the OPG itself reports that it is taking up to 20 weeks on average to process an LPA application, against its own target of eight weeks.

In 2021/22, the OPG received more than 975,000 LPA applications, which are scanned, reviewed and stored temporarily while the application is being considered. It is believed that digital applications would negate the need for large storage rooms and allow applications to be processed at greater speed.

Additionally, the Bill allows for digital records to be used as evidence of registration. This proposal reflects society’s ever‑growing attachment to technology and makes registered documents more readily accessible.