Planning ahead is one of the kindest things you can do for yourself and the people around you.

A Lasting Power of Attorney, or LPA, lets you choose who can step in and help if there comes a time when you cannot manage things yourself. That might be because of illness, an accident, or simply because life has become harder to organise than it once was. The Office of the Public Guardian, usually called the OPG, is the body that registers LPAs in England and Wales and oversees the system. 

Many people have heard that LPAs are now “digital”. That is partly true, but not in the way people sometimes think.

What has changed

The system is more digital than it used to be. You can now use GOV.UK tools to prepare an LPA online, and once an LPA has been registered there are digital services that can help attorneys and organisations view and verify it more easily. 

That is helpful. It can make things smoother for families and easier for banks and other organisations to check that an attorney is properly authorised.

What has not changed

Making an LPA is still not a fully paperless process. Even where the application starts online, the current GOV.UK guidance still requires the forms to be printed and signed, and the registration process still involves sending the signed papers to the OPG. The current published processing time is 8 to 10 weeks if there are no mistakes in the application. 

So when people say “digital LPA”, the real position is this: some parts are now easier online, but the legal document still has to be done properly and registered properly.

Why the digital side still matters

Once an LPA is registered, the online services can be very useful.

The OPG’s digital tools allow donors and attorneys to use an online account to help organisations view the details of a registered LPA. That can reduce the need to send original documents around and can make day-to-day use of the LPA much more practical. 

For clients, that often means less worry about posting important paperwork, fewer delays, and a simpler way of showing that the attorney is entitled to act.

Why good drafting still matters

The online system does not remove the need to make careful decisions at the start.

The important questions are still the same:
who should act for you,
whether they should act together or separately,
who should step in if your first choice cannot act,
and whether any guidance, preferences or restrictions should be included.

Those choices matter far more than whether the form was started online or on paper. GOV.UK’s own guidance still makes clear that the process begins with choosing the right attorney, and that an LPA must be registered before it can be used. 

What does it cost?

The current OPG registration fee is £92 per LPA. If you make both a Property and Financial Affairs LPA and a Health and Welfare LPA, the registration fees are £184 in total. There may be a reduction or exemption depending on the donor’s financial circumstances. 

Why this matters now

The law is moving in a more digital direction. The Powers of Attorney Act 2023 was introduced to support further modernisation of the LPA system. But for clients today, the practical position is still a mixed one: part digital, part paper, and still very much dependent on getting the document right from the outset. 

Our view

The real value of an LPA still lies in the choices you make at the beginning. A poorly chosen attorney, unclear wording, or a signing mistake can cause far more difficulty than any issue with the online system.

At Linley James Solicitors, we help clients make LPAs that are clear, practical and properly thought through. We advise on both types of LPA, on choosing attorneys and replacement attorneys, and on making sure the document works for real life, not just on paper.

Need advice about making an LPA or updating an existing one? Linley James Solicitors can help.

Call Linley James Solicitors on 07943 160955.