Your lasting power of attorney (LPA) will need registering with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG).

As a rule, it will take up to ten (10) weeks to register an LPA. The registration can take longer if there any errors in the application.

You must have mental capacity (able to make your own decisions) if you want to apply to register an LPA yourself.

The OPG will inform you if your attorney registers it on your behalf. In this situation, you would be able to object to the registration of a power of attorney if you disapprove it.

Note: You can register a lasting power of attorney at the same time as making an LPA online. Once OPG stamps it ‘VALIDATED-OPG’ it is then considered as registered.

---

Notifying ‘People to be Told’

In some cases, you will need to send a form to notify people listed in the LPA before completing the registration. You should use Form LP3 from the lasting power of attorney forms pack to tell all the ‘people to notify’.

The people that you need to notify will have three (3) weeks to raise any objections or concerns with the OPG.

Note: The LPA online service creates and fills in the LP3 forms for you as part of making and registering a lasting power of attorney.

---

Making the Registration

You should apply to register an LPA straight after sending the forms to notify people listed on it. But, the method you use for the LPA registration process will depend on how you created it, for example:

• You can use the online registration service if you used the same facility to make the LPA.
• You need to fill in sections 12 to 15 on the form if you created the LPA using either of the paper forms LP1F or LP1H.

Note: If you are registering a power of attorney with paper forms you will need to sign it and mail it to the OPG.

Office of the Public Guardian
PO Box 16185
Birmingham
B2 2WH

Remember to include the original LPA form, or a certified copy (see below), and the registration fee. You would need to write a covering letter explaining why you have not got the original.

LPAs made with an Older Paper Form

In some cases, you need to make a new lasting power of attorney. But, you can register your LPA using Form LP2 if you made it:

• On either of forms LPA114 or LPA117 before the 1st of January 2016.
• On either of forms LP PA or LP PW before the 1st of April 2011.

---

Cost to Register a Lasting Power of Attorney

The current cost to register a lasting power of attorney is £82 for each LPA you create. So, it would cost £164 to register both types of LPA (a property and financial affairs and a health and welfare).

The OPG will contact you to process the payment if you pay by a credit or a debit card. If you pay by cheque you should make it payable to ‘Office of the Public Guardian’ and write your full name on the reverse side. Send the cheque to the OPG along with your completed forms.

Note: You may also qualify for an exemption if you are getting certain welfare benefits (e.g. Income Support).

---

Certifying a Copy of a Lasting Power of Attorney

You may need to confirm that a copy of the lasting power of attorney (LPA) is a genuine one. You can do this by ‘certifying’ the copy – providing you have the capacity to make your own decisions.

The donor [you] or any of the attorneys can use a certified copy to register the LPA if you do not have the original form.

There may be instances where the attorney needs to use a certified copy of a lasting power of attorney. They can use it to prove they have permission to make decisions for the donor (e.g. to manage funds in a bank account).

---

How to Certify a Copy of an LPA

Certifying a copy of an LPA means you need to write some text at the bottom of every page of the copy. You must write:

“I certify this is a true and complete copy of the corresponding page of the original lasting power of attorney.”

You must then write a different statement on the final page of the copy:

“I certify this is a true and complete copy of the lasting power of attorney.”

You also need to sign and date all the pages to make it a ‘certified’ copy.

---

Other Methods of Certifying a Copy

There are several other ways to certify a copy of a lasting power of attorney. You can have LPA copies certified by a person authorised to carry out notarial activities or a solicitor.

---