Power of Attorney Bill – A Brief Update (December 2022)

On 7 December 2022, a Bill was introduced to amend the way lasting powers of attorney (LPA) are made. The changes, if passed, provide for further (secondary) legislation and include some considerable amendments to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA 2005). Here’s everything you need to know about the new Power of Attorney Bill:

Summary Power of Attorney Bill (Proposed)

• The addition of Chartered Legal Executives to S.3 of the Powers of Attorney Act 1971, thereby allowing them to certify copies of powers of attorney
• Registration only by the donor of the LPA
• A change in regulations to allow the LPA to be made on paper or online, or by a mix of the two.
• Regulations as to what identity verifications need to be met to apply to register an LPA
• A notification process, requiring the Office of the Public Guardian to notify parties when an application is complete and when the registration process is starting
• A widening of the group of people who can raise objections, including personnel not named in the LPA
• A system to allow the Office of the Public Guardian to deal with certain types of objections
• For the electronic form of the LPA registered to be evidence of the LPA

Powers of Attorney Bill: Bill 033 2022-23 (as introduced) published #PowersofAttorney https://t.co/NWGMgoN6TL

— Bills before Parliament (@ParliamentBill) December 6, 2022

According to UK Parliament, this Bill was discussed at second reading on Friday, December 9, 2022. It has since been forwarded to a Public Bill Committee, which will convene to review the Bill at a later date.