Lasting Power of Attorney
Lasting Power of Attorney Services
Independent capacity assessments and certificate provider appointments for Lasting Powers of Attorney: granting, revoking and certifying, delivered by a permanent employed team across England and Wales.
Granting, revoking and certifying an LPA, with decision-specific capacity evidence where it is needed.
At a glance
Services covered
Granting, revoking and certifying a Lasting Power of Attorney
Legal framework
Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Office of the Public Guardian
Format
Face to face or remote
Report
Court-ready and peer reviewed, within 5 working days
Coverage
England and Wales
£600 + VAT
LPA capacity assessment
£300 + VAT
Certificate provider
5 working days
Assessment to report
England and Wales
Nationwide coverage
Plain-English explanation
What is a Lasting Power of Attorney?
A Lasting Power of Attorney lets a person, the donor, appoint one or more attorneys to make decisions for them. There are two types, property and financial affairs, and health and welfare. An LPA can only be made while the donor still has the capacity to make it, and it must be certified by an independent certificate provider who confirms the donor understands the document and is acting freely. Where capacity is in doubt, or where an LPA needs to be revoked, formal decision-specific evidence is what banks, solicitors, the Office of the Public Guardian and the Court of Protection will look for.
A Lasting Power of Attorney, usually shortened to LPA, is a legal document that lets a person appoint one or more attorneys to make decisions on their behalf. There are two types: property and financial affairs, and health and welfare. An LPA can only be made while the donor still has the capacity to make it, which is why the capacity question so often has to be answered first.
Capacity for an LPA is decision-specific. The question is not whether the person can manage their day to day money, but whether they understand what an LPA is, what powers it gives, who they are giving those powers to, and that they can cancel it while they still have capacity. A person may have capacity to make an LPA and not have capacity to manage their own finances, and the reverse can also be true.
An unwise choice of attorney is not the same as lacking capacity
The assessor does not decide whether the donor has chosen well. The issue is whether the donor can make the decision, not whether others agree with who they have appointed or what powers they have given.
Lasting Power of Attorney
3 assessments
Capacity evidence and certificate provider services for making, certifying and revoking a Lasting Power of Attorney.
Capacity to grant a Lasting Power of Attorney
Where the question is making an LPA, not day-to-day finances.
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Capacity to revoke an LPA
For cancelling an existing Lasting Power of Attorney by deed of revocation.
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Certificate provider for an LPA
Independent professional certification that the donor understands the LPA and is acting freely.
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Standard or enhanced
Which level of assessment do you need?
Whichever LPA question is being assessed, there are two levels of service, matched to the complexity of the situation and the level of legal risk.
Assessment option | Suitable for | What is included |
|---|---|---|
Standard Assessment | Most LPA capacity questions, where the outcome is not expected to be contested | Single decision-specific assessment visit; two-stage Mental Capacity Act 2005 test applied in full; court-facing report structure; peer review by a second qualified professional |
Enhanced Assessment (EMCA) | Contested LPAs, high-value estates, or where undue influence is a concern | Two-stage assessment process; extended psychometric input; structured vulnerability and undue influence enquiry; Care Act informed needs analysis; detailed psychometric appendix |
Court-specific instruction | Court of Protection or other proceedings about an LPA | Required form, questions or expert-report structure agreed at instruction |
Enquiry and scoping
We identify whether the question is granting, revoking or certifying an LPA, the circumstances and any deadline, and confirm the right service, the fixed fee and the timescale in writing before instruction.
Records and background
We review the relevant background, which may include the draft or registered LPA, medical records, financial or care context, prior assessments and any safeguarding or legal correspondence.
The assessment or certification visit
A qualified assessor meets the donor at home, in a care setting, in hospital or remotely, alone where possible, using the donor's own circumstances and taking practicable steps to support their decision-making.
Peer review
A second qualified professional reviews the report for reasoning, evidence and structure before it leaves the practice.
Report or signed certificate
Your report is delivered securely within 5 working days of the assessment, or the LPA certificate is signed and returned, with follow-up clarification available for families, solicitors and other instructing parties.
What happens next
How the process runs
Deliverable
Inside a Nellie Supports report
Every report follows a structure a court, solicitor, bank or the Office of the Public Guardian can scrutinise: evidence, analysis and conclusion in a traceable line.
Instruction and the specific decision assessed
Documents and records reviewed
The relevant information for that decision
Practicable steps taken to support decision-making
Assessment findings and observations
Analysis against the Mental Capacity Act 2005 test
Conclusion and professional opinion
Limitations, declarations and appendices
Standard Assessment
£600 + VAT
Single decision-specific assessment visit; two-stage Mental Capacity Act 2005 test applied in full; court-facing report structure; peer review by a second qualified professional.
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Enhanced Assessment (EMCA)
£3,500 + VAT
Two-stage assessment process; extended psychometric input; structured vulnerability and undue influence enquiry; Care Act informed needs analysis; detailed psychometric appendix.
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Transparent pricing
Standard or Enhanced assessment, which is right?
The same two levels apply across every assessment in this cluster. For most LPA situations a standard assessment provides clear, proportionate and defensible evidence. Where the outcome is likely to be contested, or the estate and the risks are large, the enhanced service adds depth and defensibility.
Who we work with
For solicitors, will writers and other professionals
Instruction is straightforward and the evidential standard is consistent whichever LPA question is being answered:
Scope confirmed in writing
The decision to be assessed, the fixed fee and the timescale are confirmed in writing before instruction.
A traceable evidential line
Evidence, analysis and conclusion are set out in a structure a court, bank or public body can scrutinise.
Peer review as standard
A second qualified professional reviews every report before it leaves the practice.
Follow-up clarification
Clarification for instructing parties is included after the report is delivered.
For families
One fixed fee, stated before instruction and confirmed in writing, with no surprises. The visit is arranged around the person, at home, in a care setting, in hospital or remotely, and your report is delivered within 5 working days, in a form banks, solicitors and the Office of the Public Guardian can rely on.
For professionals
A permanent, employed multidisciplinary team, not an ad hoc associate or referral-panel model: Social Work England and Social Care Wales registered social workers and a Chartered Psychologist (BPS). Every report is peer reviewed by a second qualified professional and structured for scrutiny, with reports relied on in the Court of Protection, the Family Court and the Court of Appeal.
Provider evidence
Why choose Nellie Supports for your LPA evidence
England and Wales' largest identified specialist private social work and mental capacity assessment practice, with over 11,000 formal assessments and reports completed by a permanent full-time multidisciplinary team.
Why instruct Nellie Supports
Employed, not outsourced
A permanent full-time multidisciplinary team, not an ad hoc associate, contractor or referral-panel model.
Over 11,000 assessments
Formal assessments and reports completed across England and Wales.
Peer review as standard
Every report is reviewed by a second qualified professional before delivery.
Registered professionals
Social Work England and Social Care Wales registered social workers and a Chartered Psychologist (BPS).
Court-facing structure
Reports relied on in the Court of Protection, the Family Court and the Court of Appeal.
Independence
An independent opinion with no stake in the outcome, which is exactly what gives the evidence its value.
The situation
Mr S. had made a property and financial affairs Lasting Power of Attorney several years earlier, appointing a relative as his sole attorney. The relationship had since broken down and he no longer wanted that person managing his money. He asked his solicitor to revoke the existing LPA and to make a new one appointing his daughter, who had been supporting him day to day. Four months before, following a hospital admission, he had been diagnosed with vascular dementia.
The barrier
His solicitor's concern was not whether Mr S. understood what he wanted. It was that the existing attorney had already indicated he would challenge any revocation, and that the diagnosis would be the first thing he pointed to. A certificate provider's signature alone would have been a thin answer to that. Mr S.'s GP confirmed the diagnosis but declined to give an opinion on capacity for the two decisions, explaining that decision-specific assessment was not something the practice carried out. There was also a second problem the diagnosis had obscured: revoking an LPA and granting one are two separate decisions, and evidence about one proves nothing about the other.
How Nellie Supports helped
Because a challenge was expected, the instruction was scoped as an Enhanced Assessment. A registered social worker reviewed the hospital discharge summary, the diagnosis letter, the cognitive screening scores and the existing registered LPA, then saw Mr S. twice at home, alone on both occasions, at times of day his daughter said he was at his most alert. Each decision was assessed separately and recorded separately: whether he understood what revoking the existing LPA would take away and what would follow from it, and whether he understood what a new LPA would give his daughter, its scope, and that he could cancel it again while he retained capacity. A structured vulnerability and undue influence enquiry tested whether the wish to change attorney was his own, which mattered because his daughter stood to benefit from the appointment. A second qualified professional peer reviewed the report before it was released.
Why it mattered
A diagnosis of dementia is not a finding that a person lacks capacity, and it is not the test. What defends a revocation and a new LPA against a later challenge is contemporaneous, decision-specific evidence recorded at the point of signing, showing what the donor understood and what steps were taken to support him. Assessing the two decisions separately, and dealing with the undue influence question on the record rather than leaving it to be raised later, meant the instruction was documented before it was disputed rather than reconstructed afterwards.
An illustrative example drawn from the pattern of instructions we receive. It does not describe an identifiable person.
In practice
How this works in practice
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
How much does an LPA capacity assessment cost?
A decision-specific capacity assessment for an LPA is £600 plus VAT, fixed and confirmed in writing before instruction. Acting as certificate provider is £300 plus VAT. An Enhanced Assessment, for contested or high-risk matters, is £3,500 plus VAT. Travel is charged at £40 per hour and confirmed before booking.
What does a certificate provider actually do?
The certificate provider signs the section of the LPA confirming that the donor understands what the document does and the powers it gives, that nobody has pressured them into making it, and that there is nothing else that would stop the LPA being made. It is an independent safeguard, which is why it cannot be a family member or an attorney.
Do we need a capacity assessment as well as a certificate provider?
Not always. Where capacity is not in doubt, an independent certificate provider is usually enough. Where there is a diagnosis, a fluctuating presentation, a family disagreement or any prospect of the LPA being challenged later, a full decision-specific assessment gives you evidence that stands up to scrutiny. Tell us the circumstances and we will say which you need.
Can someone with dementia still make an LPA?
Often, yes. A diagnosis does not decide the question. What matters is whether, at the time of signing, the donor can understand, retain, use and weigh the relevant information about the LPA and communicate their decision. Many people with an early or moderate diagnosis retain capacity to make an LPA, which is exactly why the assessment should not be left too late.
Can an LPA be cancelled once it is registered?
Yes, provided the donor still has capacity to revoke it. Revocation is its own decision and it is assessed in its own right: the donor must understand what they are cancelling, what powers they are taking away and what the consequences are. The evidence is then filed with the deed of revocation sent to the Office of the Public Guardian.
How quickly will we receive the report?
Your report is delivered within 5 working days of the assessment. If your matter is urgent, tell us at the enquiry stage and we will advise on the earliest available appointment.
Can our GP not do this?
GPs can assess capacity but rarely have the time for a decision-specific assessment, and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 does not require the assessor to be a doctor. Our assessors carry out and record decision-specific assessments to court expectations every week.
Where do you cover?
Assessments and certificate provider appointments are carried out across England and Wales, at home, in care settings, in hospital or remotely where appropriate.
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Guide to CPR Part 35 and expert evidence in capacity disputes, including independence, report structure and court-ready reasoning.
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Who can conduct a testamentary assessment?
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Testamentary capacity assessments for complex financial structures, including trusts, businesses, cross-border assets and disputed estates.
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Supporting guidance
Guides to Lasting Powers of Attorney
Mental capacity assessments
Decision-specific capacity assessments across finances, property, care, residence and litigation.
NHS Continuing Healthcare
Eligibility checks, assessments, appeals and retrospective claims.
Expert capacity reports and reviews
Independent expert reports and critical review of existing capacity evidence.
Other support from our social workers
Discuss the instruction
Not sure which stage you are at?
Tell us who the person is, what has happened and any dates involved, and we will confirm the right support and the fixed fee in writing.
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