Four in five UK adults do not have a Lasting Power of Attorney

16 May 2022
  • 78% of UK adults have not registered a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA)
  • 77% of the over 55s have not registered either type of LPA
  • A recent FOI by Canada Life2 revealed a fall of 26.5% in registrations of LPAs in 2020/21 compared to the previous tax year

 

New insight1 from Canada Life reveals four out of five adults (78%) in the UK have not registered a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA), including 77% of the over 55 age group.

 

There are two types of LPA, the first can be registered for health and welfare needs, when you might need someone to make decisions on your behalf around medical needs, daily routines or even decisions on moving into care. LPAs can also be registered for someone to make decisions on your behalf around property and financial needs if you are unable to do so yourself.

 

LPAs are completed using a paper form, and each type of LPA will cost £82. You don’t need to engage a solicitor or legal professional if you choose to do it yourself, and you can deal directly with the Office of the Public Guardian.

 

Andrew Tully, technical director, Canada Life commented:

“Lasting power of attorneys put in place a valuable safety net and can provide reassurance at hugely difficult times for both you and your family. The very low uptake in registering LPAs, especially among the over 55 age group, is likely because of the lack of awareness of what they are and the resulting benefits from having them. You can very simply put in place each type of LPA which can provide significant peace of mind, although worth considering even simple LPAs can take 20 weeks to put in place.

 

“Our recent FOI revealed the number of LPAs registrations fell during the pandemic, which went against the huge increases seen in registrations in the previous five years. This is partly due to the processing changes that needed to be made at the start of the pandemic and the resulting backlog caused2.

 

“LPAs are incredibly powerful legal documents and very easy to register while you have the mental capacity to do so, and you will know your affairs and needs would be looked after by the person you nominate.”

 

Following an FOI request by Canada Life, the Ministry of Justice has confirmed there has been a 26.5% reduction in the number of lasting power of attorneys (LPAs) registered in the 2020/21 tax year compared to the previous year. In total, 636,628 registrations were completed, split between 282,883 health and welfare and 353,745 property and finance LPAs.

 

This compares to 866,272 registrations in the previous tax year (2019/20) split between 382,130 health and welfare and 484,142 property and financial, which to date is the peak year for registrations.

 

More details can be found here on how to start the registration process for either type of LPA: https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/register.

 

  1. Source and methodology: a sample of 2,000 UK adults aged 18+, with fieldwork by Opinium between the 4th and 8th March 2022. Results were weighted to nationally representative criteria.
  2. Source: Freedom of Information request to the Ministry of Justice, answered on 22 November 2021. Copy available upon request.
  3. Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/lasting-power-of-attorney-service-to-be-made-safer-simpler-and-fit-for-the-future