What is Power of Attorney?

Power of Attorney allows you to choose a trusted person or persons to make important decisions or act on your behalf, if you can’t in the future.

These decisions should always be based with your best interests at heart and you may even put some rules in place beforehand.

This includes making decisions about your health and living arrangements or managing your financial affairs.

You can put a Power of Attorney in place at any time as long as you haven’t lost mental capacity when the document is signed.

Types of Power of Attorney

In England and Wales, there are three types of Power of Attorney in operation.

Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA)

This is the most common type of Power of Attorney. There are two kinds of LPA, you may want either one or both types in place.

  • Property and Financial Affairs LPA: this covers things such as managing day-to-day finances, debts, benefits and buying or selling property. It can be used both before and after the donor (you) has lost mental capacity.
  • Health and Welfare LPA: this covers issues such as NHS treatment, care and housing. It can only be used after the donor has lost mental capacity.

Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA)

You can’t set up a new Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) as they were abolished in October 2007. If there’s one already in place it’ll still be valid if you need to register it in the future.

An EPA only applies to financial affairs so if you (or the person you’re caring for) has one in place, you may want to consider replacing it with a Lasting Power of Attorney.

What type of PoA do we deal with?

For properties and accounts in England and Wales, the Power of Attorney must be in the form of an Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA), produced prior to 1 October 2007 or a registered Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) (property and affairs) for documents dated after 1 October 2007.

For properties and accounts in Scotland, the Power of Attorney must be a Continuing Power of Attorney (CPA) including a certificate signed by a solicitor, a practising member of the faculty of advocates, or a medical practitioner stating that:

  • They’ve interviewed the granter immediately prior to the signing of the CPA
  • They’re satisfied because of their own knowledge of the granter or having consulted another named person who knows the granter, that the granter fully understands the nature of the powers being given and the extent of them; and
  • They have no reason to believe that the granter is acting under any influence or other reason which should prevent the powers form being given.

Power of Attorney in Scotland

In Scotland, there are three types of Power of Attorney

Continuing Power of Attorney (CPA)

This form of Power of Attorney allows you (the ‘granter’) to choose someone to look after your property and financial affairs immediately, continuing into incapacity or if you become mentally incapable. It can also include welfare powers, such as determining where you should live if you need to move due to changing levels of care. Welfare powers can only come into effect on incapacity.

Welfare Power of Attorney (WPA)

This Power of Attorney allows your attorney(s) to make decisions about your health and welfare after you become incapable. These powers can include deciding where you’ll live and personal issues, such as medical treatment and personal care. Your attorney(s) can’t intervene while you have capacity to make decisions for yourself.

Combined Power of Attorney

This is a combination of a CPA and WPA.

For more information about PoA in Scotland you can visit the office of the public guardian website.

How to get a Power of Attorney

Your attorney can be a friend, relative or professional person such as a solicitor. They must be over the age of 18. When you’ve chosen your attorney, you’ll need to register them with the Office of the Public Guardian. You can find out more on the government websites by clicking below.

England & Wales Scotland
Mature man looking concerned at laptop

Power of Attorney Form

If you’re a customer with Power of Attorney in place and would like to open a savings account with us, you will first need to complete an online application and then complete the below form and return it to us with a copy of the Power of Attorney document.

Where do I send the documents?

You can send your documents to us in one of three ways:

  • Email, send a scanned copy of the full document to our support teams:
    For mortgage customers: [email protected]
    For savings customers: [email protected]
  • Post, you can post your documents to us. To make sure they arrive safely, please send them by recorded delivery to:
    Customer Services
    Hodge
    One Central SquareWe’ll return them by recorded delivery and let you know once we’ve sent them back.
  • Online, you can share an online access code so we can view the lasting power of attorney (LPA) on the Office of Public Guardian website.

What is an online access code?

An access code is a secure way to give a company permission to view the donor’s LPA without needing the paper version. You can create one using the “lasting power of attorney” service.

When the LPA was registered, you should’ve received a letter with information about how to set up the online account on “Use an LPA”.
An access code:

  • is 13 characters long
  • starts with the letter V
  • allows us to view the LPA online
  • lets us check you’re listed and that you’re authorised on the donor’s behalf.

Third party Authority

What is a third party authority and how does it work?

Third party authority is an arrangement you set up with us that allows someone else to access information about your mortgage or savings account – and in some cases, make payments on your behalf.

There are two ways you can set up third party authority with us:

  1. Verbal authority
    As the account holder, you can give verbal authority over the phone. This allows the third party to speak to us on your behalf. It’s valid until 5pm on the same working days it’s given.
  2. Third party authority form
    You can complete this form to give a third party access to your account for up to 12 months. This form needs to be completed by you and the third party your authorising. The form must be signed by all account holders and the third party, or a representative from the third party if it’s a company.Once the form is completed, please send the form to us:By post
    Or by email:
    For mortgage customers: [email protected]
    For savings customers: [email protected]

We’ll contact you once we’ve verified everything.

What can a third party do with the authority?

Here are some of the things a third party can and cannot do when they have authority:

They can:They cannot:
Obtain information about your mortgage, such as the outstanding balance, interest rate and payments made.Make decisions about your mortgage or savings account.
Make overpayments or redeem your mortgage on your behalf – this is only applicable if you fill out and submit our Third Party Authority form.Apply for further borrowing, port your mortgage to a different property or transfer it into a different name.
Communicate with us directly about your account.Extend the authority themselves -this request would need to come from you.
Discuss your savings account with us.Make deposits into or withdrawals from your savings account.

Ending or cancelling third party authority

A third party authority form is valid for up to 12 months. One month before this is due to come to an end, we will contact you to advise of this to give you the opportunity to extend.. If we don’t hear from you, we’ll follow up again once the authority has expired to make sure you’re aware.

In certain circumstances, we might end the authority without contacting you -for example, if you have redeemed your mortgage.

If you wish to end the authority for a third party before the expiry date, you can do so by contacting us via phone or email.

Court of Protection Order

What is a Court of Protection Order?

A Court of Protection Order is a legal document that appoints someone – known as a deputy – to make decisions on behalf of someone else (the donor).

The Order is issued by the Court of Protection in England and Wales, and it’s only made when the donor lacks mental capacity and there’s no power of attorney in place.

There are different types of orders depending on where you live in the UK, but they work in similar ways:

  • In Scotland, the Sheriff can make a guardianship order.
  • In Northern Ireland, the High Court can make a controllership order.
  • In England and Wales, they’re sometimes called deputyship orders as well as Court of Protection Orders.

Once a Court of Protection Order is granted, the deputy must register it with us before they can manage the donor’s account. You can register a Court of Protection with us by:

How does a Court of Protection Order work?

The Court of Protection will only grant an order when someone is unable to make decisions for themselves, and there’s no power of attorney in place to help them.

The Court can appoint deputies to make decisions about the person’s property, their financial affairs and/or their personal welfare.

The Court also decides how many deputies are appointed and what each deputy can (and cannot) do.

Becoming a deputy

Anyone can apply to become a deputy, but it’s usually a friend or relative of the donor.

A deputy must be aged 18 years old or over. If their managing finances, they’ll need to be confident making financial decisions on the donor’s behalf.

If no one close to the donor is suitable, the Court can appoint a panel deputy. A panel deputy is usually an approved charity or law firm.

How do multiple deputies work together?

If more than one person applies to be a deputy, the Court may decide how the deputies work together.

The Court can decide that deputies must act ‘jointly’. This means they must make all decisions together. Or that the deputies act ‘jointly and severally’. This means they can make decisions together or on their own.

How long does a Court of Protection Order last?

The Court will decide how long the Order will last for. In most cases, it will last for the whole of the donor’s lifetime.

However, the Court can also make one-off decisions. Here, the Court can make a single decision about someone who has lost mental capacity.

The Court can also make emergency orders. These are known as ‘Urgent Interim Orders’. These are made where there is an immediate risk to someone who has lost mental capacity.

How do I get a Court of Protection Order?

In England and Wales, you can apply to the Court of Protection by post or via a solicitor.

While you don’t have to use a solicitor, getting a Court of Protection Order can be a complex process. So, you may want to take advice from a professional who can help you along the way.

FAQs

Find out more about our power of attorney process.

If you’re worried that decisions aren’t being made in the best interest of the donor please get in touch with the Office of the Public Guardian. They’ll look at the case and review whether they are able to investigate. See the gov website for further information

 

There are a number of ways a lasting power of attorney (LPA) can be brought to an end. The person who made the power of attorney (known as the donor) can cancel it if they still have capacity.

If the attorney is no longer able, or no longer wants to be an attorney, there’s guidance on the Gov.uk website on how to do this.

A lasting power of attorney will also come to an end when the donor passes away.

An enduring power of attorney (EPA) can also be brought to an end by the donor cancelling it if they still have capacity, or an attorney wishes no longer to act. It can also be cancelled with a court order or the Court of Protection can end if they believe the attorney has abused their position, or if the EPA was made as a result of fraud or pressure.

 

If you hold power of attorney or deputyship through the Court of Protection, you may be able to apply for new or additional borrowing. This has to be through an independent financial advisor (IFA). If you don’t have an independent financial adviser (IFA) the website www.unbiased.co.uk can help you find one.

If you hold third party authority, you cannot apply for additional borrowing on behalf of the customer.

We’ll run identification checks through Experian, a credit reference agency, to confirm the identity of the power of attorney, deputy or third party. In some cases, you may need to send us additional documents to verify identification. If we need this, we’ll let you know.

If we request additional identification, we’ll need to see your passport or driving license (original or solicitor certified copy) and proof of address (dated within the last three months). This could be a utility bill, council tax bill or bank statement.

For mortgage customers, the account will need to be redeemed which means that the mortgage will need to be repaid. For savings customers, the money in the account will be sent to the customers’ estate which then closes the account.

For power of attorney or deputyship, once we receive the documents from you it can take up to a month. We’ll ask the Office of Public Guardian to verify the attorney(s) named on the power of attorney document.

For third party authority, once we receive the application form from you, it can take up to a week.

You can contact us by phone, email, or letter to manage the account.

You can open an account on the donors behalf. Please contact our savings team on 0800 7314076, they’ll be able to help you with your application.

For a power of attorneyor deputyship you’ll need to send us one of the following:

  • The original power of attorneydocument
  • A solicitor certified photocopy with original solicitor’s signature, company stamp and a declaration on each page confirming the document to be true copy of the original.
  • Please make sure you include all pages

If you have a lasting power of attorney registered in England or Wales on or after 1 September 2019, then you do not need to send us these documents. Instead, you can send us an access code given by the Gov.uk website when you registered your power of attorney. The access code is 13 characters long and start with a V. We’ll use this code to access the power of attorney online from the Office of the Public Guardian.

For a third party authority you’ll need to send us the completed third party authority form.

Additional documents required for all:

  • If the donor now lives in a care home, we need a letter on headed paper or an email from the care home stating the donor lives there. This must be signed by the care home manager
  • We’ll need to run identification checks on the attorney/deputy/third party and may need to see additional identification documents. This includes passport or driving license (original or solicitor certified copy) and proof of address (dated within the last three months). This could be a utility bill, council tax bill or bank statement.
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