The Powers of Attorney Act 2023 received Royal Assent on 18 September 2023. The aim of the Act is to make the process of preparing and registering Lasting Powers of Attorney digital.
The Justice Minister said:
“This Act allows us to modernise the service, introduce new safeguards from fraud and abuse and make it simpler to give people peace of mind their interests will be protected.”
Currently the application process for creating Lasting Powers of Attorney is paper based and all documents must be signed in wet ink in a certain order.
Last year alone the Office of the Public Guardian received 1.37 million applications to register compared to 1.07 million the previous year. This represented a 28% increase in applications.
A Lasting Power of Attorney has at least 15 pages in it and so 1.37 million applications will have generated over 20 million pieces of paper received by the Office of the Public Guardian. The new system should reduce the amount of paper generated.
There are now a little over 8 million registered Enduring Powers of Attorney and Lasting Powers of Attorney.
The Ministry of Justice believe that using a digital signing process should be quicker and easier than the paper-based process. The digital system will reduce the risk of signing the Lasting Power of Attorney in the wrong order.
There are however concerns that a digital system could be abused so safeguards will need to be built into the process to prevent this. It is expected that paper-based Lasting Powers of Attorney will continue to be accepted as it is acknowledged that not everyone would be able to use a digital system.
The timing of the introduction of the changes is yet to be announced. The Office of the Public Guardian are still working on processes and extensive testing to minimise the risk of abuse, fraud and coercion before they introduce the new system.
The reforms are welcomed but limitations remain.
Creating Lasting Powers of Attorney, appointing the right people as Attorneys and ensuring your Attorneys are provided with the powers they will need to administer your affairs efficiently if you are not able to is still a complex process. As part of your overall planning you should continue to take independent legal advice about making Lasting Powers of Attorney so that the documents include all the provisions and protections you wish to include.
