NEWS

Amended LPA Forms Released

The Office of the Public Guardian have released the new draft LPA documents on their website. The forms are to be introduced under the Lasting Power of Attorney, Enduring Powers of Attorney and Public Guardian (Amendment) Regulations 2009 which were laid before Parliament on the 15 July.

These amend the Lasting Powers of Attorney, Enduring Powers of Attorney and Public Guardian Regulations 2007 (2007 Regulations) which set out the prescribed instruments that must be used to create a lasting power of attorney (LPA) for property and affairs or for personal welfare.

The changes follow a consultation called Reviewing the Mental Capacity Act 2005: forms, supervision and fees which ran from 23 October 2008 until 15 January 2009. The consultation included draft LPA forms and invited comments on the revisions.

The forms underwent further revision to take on board comments received through consultation and further user testing has been undertaken with stakeholders such as the Society and members of the public who had no prior knowledge of the forms.

Martin John, Public Guardian says “We aim to deliver a service that is easy to understand and use, and improving the forms is a key step in that direction.” It is intended that the new prescribed forms will be in place from 1 October 2009.

The amendment provides for transitional arrangements so that an LPA produced using the current form which is executed by the donor before 1 April 2011 will be valid, whether or not it has been registered by the Public Guardian.

The titles of the new forms detour slightly from the terms used in the Mental Capacity Act 2005 but are purely for presentational purposes. Property and affairs becomes property and financial affairs whilst personal welfare becomes health and welfare. The forms are also designed to be more streamlined with no tick boxes and are written in plainer English. They also contain completion guidance on the forms themselves as notes in the margins.

The Lasting Powers of Attorney, Enduring Powers of Attorney and Public Guardian (Amendment) Regulations 2009 also make two minor changes to the 2007 regulations to correct errors.

(article reproduced from the Society of Will Writers, Newsletter 29th July 2009)