GUIDES
The donor must be able to decide whether to create the particular LPA, understanding its purpose, chosen attorneys, powers, timing, safeguards and foreseeable consequences.
Author: Nellie Supports Ltd
Publication Date: 15/05/2026
GOV.UK, Make, register or end a lasting power of attorney. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney
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The donor must be able to decide whether to create the particular LPA, understanding its purpose, chosen attorneys, powers, timing, safeguards and foreseeable consequences. The sections below explain the evidence, practical steps and limits of the assessment or process.
To make a valid Lasting Power of Attorney, the donor must be able to understand, retain, use or weigh a specific and limited set of information: the nature of an LPA and the authority it hands to the attorneys; who the attorneys will be; the scope of decisions covered by the particular LPA, whether property and financial affairs or health and welfare; when the attorneys will be able to act, including any conditions; that the LPA can be revoked while the donor retains capacity; and the foreseeable risks, including the possibility of an attorney misusing the power. The donor does not need to be able to manage their own affairs to grant an LPA; arranging for someone trusted to help is itself the point. This guide works through each element in plain English.
Relevant information is the information the person needs to understand, retain, use or weigh for this decision. For mental Capacity Assessment to Grant Lasting Power of Attorney, this usually includes the nature of the LPA, who the attorneys are, what powers they may have, when those powers can be used, the consequences of appointing or removing attorneys, and the safeguards available. Defining that information at the outset avoids vague, unfair or overbroad assessments.
An LPA lets the donor choose people to make specified property and financial affairs or health and welfare decisions, subject to the instrument and law. Explain the actual authority and alternatives accessibly. Without an LPA, the route depends on the issue: not every care or health decision requires a welfare deputyship, and some financial matters may involve an appointee or a Court of Protection application.
The donor should understand, in broad terms, what the attorneys will be able to do: for a property and affairs instrument, managing bank accounts, paying bills, dealing with property and, subject to its terms, selling the home; for a health and welfare instrument, decisions about care, treatment and, only where expressly authorised, life-sustaining treatment. They should also understand any restrictions or preferences they are including, since an instruction the donor cannot explain is an instruction the donor has not understood.
Explain when the particular instrument can be used. An LPA must be registered first. A property and financial affairs LPA may be used while the donor has capacity if the donor permits it, subject to its terms. A health and welfare LPA can be used only when the donor lacks capacity for the specific decision, rather than whenever a general diagnosis or decline appears.
The donor should know who they are appointing and be able to say why, understand whether multiple attorneys must act together or can act separately and what that choice means in practice, and grasp who would step in if an attorney could not act, including any replacement attorneys named. The reasons need not be elaborate, but a donor who cannot connect the names on the form to people and reasons of their own raises exactly the doubt an assessment exists to resolve.
The donor should understand that whilst they retain capacity they remain in control: they can revoke the instrument, and making it does not surrender their present decision-making. This element matters both as information and as reassurance, because donors under pressure sometimes believe the document is irreversible from signature, and a donor who understands revocation is a donor who can meaningfully be said to have chosen to proceed.
Finally, the donor should appreciate the central risk: that the attorneys could misuse the authority, and that oversight of attorneys, whilst it exists, is not constant supervision. This is the element most often softened in family conversations and most examined in later disputes, and the donor's engagement with it, their own account of why they trust these people with this power, is amongst the strongest evidence a contemporaneous assessment can preserve.
Offer the information in plain language with appropriate privacy and independent communication support. Explore the donor’s explanation of the document, attorneys, powers, timing, revocation and material risks. Retention need only be sufficient for the decision and may be assisted by notes or reminders. Record the support and evidence; a later court or the OPG determines any disputed validity issue.
Explain the actual instrument’s purpose, powers, attorneys, timing, revocation and material risks in a way the donor can use. Record support and the donor’s responses without requiring legal vocabulary or unaided recall of every detail. A capacity opinion and the statutory certificate have distinct roles, and neither guarantees the validity of an LPA if later challenged.
No. A diagnosis alone does not establish incapacity. For a Mental Capacity Act decision, provide practicable support, examine understanding, retention, use or weighing and communication, then explain whether any inability is caused by an impairment or disturbance of mind or brain. The conclusion is specific to the decision and time.
The draft or completed LP1F or LP1H forms, the donor's account of who the attorneys are and why they are trusted, any relevant diagnosis and records, and the context of the wider planning. The assessor tests each element of the relevant information against the actual LPA being made, not LPAs in the abstract.
A formal report is usually useful where the decision is important, disputed, high-value, court-related, professionally scrutinised or affected by concerns about pressure, fluctuating capacity, communication needs or safeguarding risk. A conclusion about one decision does not establish capacity for another.
The related pages below explain connected decisions, evidence requirements and legal processes.
Before seeking a report, write down the exact decision, relevant date, reason for concern and intended use. Gather the documents that explain the real options and any communication needs. Check any required form or court direction, agree the scope and total fee, and clarify how missing evidence or further questions will be handled.
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