Power of Attorney

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.

An Ordinary Power of Attorney also allows your trusted person/s to act on your behalf but it’s only valid while you have mental capacity. You might choose an OPA if you want someone to look after your financial affairs for a temporary period. This could be if you have health problems or an accident, or if you’re abroad for a long period of time.

Ordinary Power of Attorney should not be used if you:

• have been diagnosed with a health condition that could lead to mental incapacity
• are worried that you may develop such a problem
• want to put in place arrangements to ensure your affairs are managed by someone you trust in the event you lose mental capacity in the future.

Under these circumstances, it’s more appropriate to use a Lasting Power of Attorney.

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.

You’ll need to send us one of the following:

• The original Power of Attorney document
• 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.

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. These are 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.

Additional documents:

• 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 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 3 months. This could be a utility bill, council tax bill or bank statement.

We need either the original Power of Attorney document or full copy document. Please make sure you include all pages. If sending a copy we also need certification which means that the document needs to have each page stamped by the company who’s provided it.

We’re happy to accept a copy by exception or a solicitor certified copy via email.

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.

No, as the mortgage is already in place and any changes would need to be made through an independent financial advisor.

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

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 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.

We will run identification checks through Experian, a credit reference agency, to confirm the identity of the PoA. In some cases, you may need to send us additional documents to verify identification. If we need this we will let you know.

If we request additional identification, we will need to see your passport or driving license (original or solicitor certified copy) and proof of address dated within the last 3 months. This could be a utility bill, council tax bill or bank statement.

You may be able to apply for new or additional borrowing but this has to be through an Independent Financial Advisor. If you don’t have an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) the website www.unbiased.co.uk can help you find one.

There are a number of ways a Lasting Power of Attorney 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 says they no longer wish to be an attorney. 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 the donor made the Enduring Power of Attorney because of fraud or excessive pressure.

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

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.

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.

For more information about PoA in Scotland you can visit the office of the public guardian website http://www.publicguardian-scotland.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/power-of-attorney/types-of-power-of-attorney

This is a combination of a CPA and WPA.

Lasting Power of Attorney – A Lasting Power of Attorney is a legal document that lets the donor appoint one or more people to make decisions on their behalf. This happens when they’re no longer able to make those decisions for themselves.

Donor/Granter – The person that the Lasting Power of Attorney is for, the person who appoints a trusted friend or family member (or more than one) to help make decisions on their behalf.

Attorney – The person(s) chosen to make the decisions.

Mental Capacity – A person with mental capacity is considered to have a general understanding of the decision they need to make, why they need to make it and what is likely to happen when they make it.

Office of Public Guardian – A government department that administers Lasting Power of Attorney and protects people who lack mental capacity.

Deposit Accounts – The personal savings accounts we offer. We offer fixed rate, short term fixed rate, 8 day notice and no notice deposit accounts. For more specific product information please get in touch.

ISA’s – The Individual Savings Accounts we offer. We offer a Fixed Rate ISA and a Junior Cash ISA. For more specific product information please get in touch.

Equity Release Mortgages – A mortgage specifically designed for homeowners who want to release equity from their property. We don’t sell equity release mortgages anymore. In the past we’ve offered a wide range of equity release style mortgages including lifetime mortgages, flexible lifetime mortgages, equity advance plans and shared growth plans. For more specific product information please get in touch.

No Negative Equity Guarantee – Products which meet the Equity Release Council Product Standards are required to feature this clause. This guarantee means the estate will never owe more than the property is worth when it’s sold to repay the equity release mortgage.

Residential Mortgages – A residential mortgage is a large long term loan taken out by one or more people to buy a home to live in, not to rent to tenants or used for commercial purposes.