Author and Publication
Author: Nellie Supports Ltd
Publication Date: 15/05/2026
Citation
GOV.UK, Make, register or end a lasting power of attorney. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney
Copywright
Copyright © 2026 Nellie Supports Ltd. All rights reserved.
This article is made available for general information, education and professional reference. It may be downloaded, printed and shared for non-commercial purposes, provided that it is reproduced in full, is not altered in any way, and is properly cited as the work of Nellie Supports Ltd. This material must not be edited, adapted, sold, republished, incorporated into commercial products, or used for commercial training, assessment, report-writing or advisory services without prior written permission from Nellie Supports Ltd.
This article does not constitute legal advice, clinical advice or a substitute for a decision-specific professional assessment. Where legislation, government guidance, court forms or external professional materials are referred to, those materials remain subject to their own copyright, licensing and re-use terms.
Who can assess capacity for an LPA?
Capacity to grant an LPA can be assessed by any suitably experienced professional: specialist social workers, psychologists, nurses and doctors all assess donor capacity. Separately, the certificate provider who confirms the donor's understanding on the LPA form can be either someone who has known the donor personally for two years or a person with relevant professional skills, such as a GP, solicitor or capacity professional. Where a diagnosis, family conflict or a later challenge is foreseeable, an independent professional assessment alongside the certificate gives the LPA far stronger protection. This guide explains the roles, who is appropriate when, and the questions worth asking.
Two roles, often confused
Asking who can assess capacity for an LPA usually merges two different roles. The certificate provider, required on every instrument, confirms the donor's understanding and freedom from pressure at signature. A capacity assessor, instructed where doubt exists, conducts a formal decision-specific assessment and produces a report. The certificate is a statutory safeguard; the assessment is evidence, and knowing which the situation needs is the first half of answering the question.
Who can act as certificate provider
The certificate provider must be either someone who has known the donor personally for at least 2 years or someone with relevant professional skills, such as a solicitor, registered social worker or doctor, and certain people are excluded, including the attorneys, family members of the donor or attorneys, and connected business or care home figures. Our separate guide on the certificate provider role covers this fully; the present point is that eligibility to certify is not the same as competence to assess.
Who can conduct a formal LPA capacity assessment
Where capacity is genuinely in doubt, or a challenge is foreseeable, the instrument needs more than the certificate: a formal assessment by a professional with demonstrable Mental Capacity Act expertise, registered social workers, doctors, psychologists, nurses and allied professionals amongst them. No profession is prescribed, and the qualification is competence: command of the statutory test, skill in decision-specific assessment and the ability to evidence reasoning in a report that others can rely upon years later.
When the certificate alone is not enough
The certificate carries the instrument in ordinary cases. It should be reinforced with a formal assessment where the donor has a diagnosis affecting cognition, where the presentation is borderline or fluctuating, where the family is divided or a challenge is predictable, where the estate is substantial or where the instrument departs from expectations, such as excluding an obvious candidate as attorney. In those settings the certificate answers signature-day formality whilst the assessment supplies the evidence that will actually be examined.
Solicitors, GPs and independent assessors
Solicitors preparing LPAs frequently act as certificate providers and are well placed to spot doubt, but most are not capacity assessors and should not be asked to be. GPs are commonly approached for the formal assessment and many decline, through time pressure or unfamiliarity with the form the evidence must take. Independent specialist assessors fill exactly this gap: instructed directly, visiting at home, producing decision-specific reports built for later scrutiny, with the GP records feeding the assessment rather than replacing it.
Matching the assessor to the donor
The right assessor also depends on the donor. Dementia presentations, learning disability, communication impairments and fluctuating conditions each reward assessors experienced with that presentation, able to adapt method, time visits well and evidence the practicable steps taken. Where the instrument is one strand of wider planning, a will, gifts, a property transaction, an assessor competent across those decisions can assess them together, catching each at the same moment whilst keeping the analyses separate.
Independence around the instrument
Whoever assesses should stand outside the instrument's beneficiaries. An assessor introduced and briefed solely by the proposed attorney, or connected to those who gain from the arrangement, invites the very challenge the assessment exists to prevent. The assessor should see the donor alone, state in the report how the instruction arose and be demonstrably willing to conclude that capacity is absent, because an assessment that could only ever have said yes protects nobody.
Getting the sequencing right
In practice the sequence matters: where doubt exists, the formal assessment is best conducted close to execution, with the certificate provided at signature by an eligible person in the ordinary way, so the two protections stand together and contemporaneously. An assessment months before execution leaves a gap; one after execution is retrospective reconstruction. Solicitors coordinating both around the same period give the instrument the strongest evidential footing available.
Key takeaway
Capacity for an LPA is confirmed by two different people doing two different jobs: an eligible certificate provider at signature and, where doubt or dispute threatens, an independent professional assessor with genuine Mental Capacity Act expertise. Choose the assessor for competence, match them to the donor, keep them independent of the instrument's beneficiaries and time the assessment to execution, and the LPA carries evidence equal to any later challenge.
Frequently asked questions
Does a diagnosis automatically mean someone lacks capacity?
No. A diagnosis may explain why capacity is in doubt, but it does not answer the legal question. The assessment must still consider the specific decision, the relevant information, the support provided and whether the person can understand, retain, use or weigh that information and communicate a decision.
What evidence is useful for Mental Capacity Assessment to Grant Lasting Power of Attorney?
Useful evidence will depend on the facts, but it commonly includes draft or registered LPA documents, OPG correspondence, solicitor notes, family background, medical records and information about any concerns regarding pressure, coercion or fluctuating capacity. The assessor should record which documents were reviewed and separate direct observations from information supplied by others.
When is a formal assessment for Mental Capacity Assessment to Grant Lasting Power of Attorney useful?
Use an independent professional assessor where the donor has a diagnosis affecting cognition, where relatives may object to registration, where the estate is significant, or where the certificate provider wants professional evidence standing behind their confirmation.
Related mental capacity assessment pages
These internal links help readers move from this guide to the most relevant Nellie Supports service page, assessment option or legal framework page.
Deciding who should assess LPA capacity?
Nellie Supports completes LPA donor capacity assessments across England and Wales, with certificate provider services available, a same working day response to every enquiry and every report peer reviewed before delivery. Call 0333 987 5118 or visit the LPA capacity assessment service page.