Lasting power of attorney and care home records

What a lasting power of attorney is, and when it gives authority

A lasting power of attorney is a legal document under which a person, the donor, appoints one or more attorneys with authority to make decisions about their personal welfare, their property and affairs, or both, including at times when the donor no longer has capacity. Section 9 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 defines it, and in practice there are two types, each a separate document: a health and welfare LPA and a property and financial affairs LPA. The donor makes it while able to, planning for a time when they may lose mental capacity to make some decisions; by the time they move into a care home, it may already be in use. A resident may have one, both or neither.

Three parts of section 9 decide whether the document in front of you gives anyone authority at all:

• It must be registered. A lasting power of attorney “is not created unless” it is “made and registered in accordance with Schedule 1”, and the donor had “reached 18 and has capacity to execute it” when signing (section 9(2)).
• A defective one gives nothing. An instrument that does not comply with section 9, section 10 or Schedule 1 “confers no authority” (section 9(3)).
• It is limited by the Act and by its own terms. The attorney's authority is subject to the principles in section 1, the best interests duty in section 4 and “any conditions or restrictions specified in the instrument” (section 9(4)).

The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) tells attorneys in its guide to managing a lasting power of attorney: “Make sure the LPA has been registered - you cannot start acting until it is.” Registration can take up to 16 weeks, and a registered LPA is stamped “validated-OPG”. The Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice says the same at paragraph 7.16: “If an LPA is unregistered, attorneys must register it before making any decisions under the LPA.” A relative who has signed the forms but not yet had them registered holds no authority under them yet.

A health and welfare attorney's authority also depends on the resident's capacity for the decision in hand. Under section 11(7)(a) it “does not extend to making such decisions in circumstances other than those where P lacks, or the donee reasonably believes that P lacks, capacity”, and section 2(1) makes capacity decision-specific: a person lacks it “in relation to a matter” at the material time. A resident who cannot weigh up a move to nursing care may still choose what to wear and when to get up, and those choices stay theirs. Where the resident does lack capacity, that authority extends to giving or refusing consent to medical treatment by a person providing health care (section 11(7)(c)), but not to life-sustaining treatment unless the LPA expressly says so (section 11(8)(a)), and how it sits with an advance decision is set out in the Regulation 11 consent guide. Our guide to mental capacity assessment records covers how the home records the capacity decision itself.

A property and financial affairs attorney is different: the OPG's page for property and financial affairs attorneys says “You can start making decisions while the donor still has mental capacity if both: the lasting power of attorney (LPA) says you can; the donor gives you permission”. So the attorney who manages the resident's money and pays the care home's bills may be acting with the resident's agreement while the resident still makes every other decision.

An LPA works only in England and Wales; the OPG's guide to making a lasting power of attorney says it “will be legally binding only in England and Wales”. Scotland has its own law, the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000. In Northern Ireland the lasting power of attorney provisions of the Mental Capacity Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 are not yet in force, and an enduring power of attorney there covers financial matters only. The Powers of Attorney Act 2023 will change how LPAs are made and registered, but section 1, which carries that reform, is still shown as prospective on legislation.gov.uk on 30 October 2026: it has been passed and not commenced, so the current paper forms and online service remain the routes.

Why care homes need a copy of the power of attorney, and how to check it

A care home needs to see the LPA itself, or the OPG's summary of it, because only the document shows whether it is registered, which type it is, how the attorneys must make decisions and what restrictions the donor wrote, and each of those decides what the attorney may do. The Code of Practice, at paragraph 16.10, puts the check before the release of information: “Once satisfied that the request comes from an attorney or deputy (having seen appropriate authority), the person holding information should be able to release it.” The OPG's page for health and welfare attorneys tells them “You must tell people involved in the donor's care when you start making decisions”, naming “care workers, social worker and other social care staff”, and warns: “You may need to use your lasting power of attorney (LPA) to prove to staff that you can act for the donor.”

The OPG's page on proving a lasting power of attorney gives an attorney three ways to prove it to an organisation:

1. An online summary, which the organisation views with an access code the attorney or donor creates, for an LPA registered on or after 1 January 2016.
2. The original registered LPA, stamped “validated-OPG”.
3. A certified copy of the LPA.

A certified copy is a photocopy with a statement on it that it is a true and complete copy of the original. The OPG says the donor can certify a copy while still able to make their own decisions, and that copies can also be certified by “a solicitor; a person authorised to carry out notarial activities”. Since 18 November 2023 a chartered legal executive can certify one too: section 2 of the Powers of Attorney Act 2023 added them to section 3 of the Powers of Attorney Act 1971, which also allows a stockbroker to certify and requires a certificate at the end of the copy that it is “a true and complete copy of the original” and, where the original has two or more pages, a certificate on each page. The OPG's own page has not yet added chartered legal executives, so a home should not turn away a copy they have certified.

When nobody has the document, or the home needs to know whether anyone holds authority at all, the OPG can search its registers: “You need to fill in a form to search the register. This is a free service.” The form, OPG100, goes by email to opgregistersearches@publicguardian.gov.uk or by post, and is used “to find out if someone has a lasting power of attorney (LPA), an enduring power of attorney (EPA) or a court-appointed deputy acting on their behalf”. The OPG says: “OPG will respond within 5 working days. It may take longer if they contact you by post.” The OPG has an urgent route, but it names who should use it: “To search the register urgently, local authorities, police and NHS staff should raise an enquiry”. An independent care home uses OPG100; where the need is urgent because of a safeguarding concern, raise it with the local authority's safeguarding team.

Some residents will have an enduring power of attorney (EPA), the older form that LPAs replaced (none could be made after 1 October 2007), or a deputy appointed by the Court of Protection instead. The register search finds registered EPAs and deputies. The online summary covers neither, so see the registered EPA or the court order, or a certified copy, and check what it covers and any limits it sets before relying on it.

What to record in the care plan about a lasting power of attorney

No regulation lists the fields; these are the details that decide who may decide what, taken from the Act and the OPG's guidance. For each LPA or deputyship a resident has, record:

• The type: health and welfare, property and financial affairs, or both, and for a health and welfare LPA whether it expressly gives authority over life-sustaining treatment (section 11(8)).
• The attorneys: each name, how to contact them, and how they must make decisions – whether they must act together or can act alone – as the document or summary states it.
• The restrictions and conditions, quoted from the document or summary rather than paraphrased, because section 9(4) makes them part of the attorney's authority.
• How it was verified: original seen, certified copy taken, or online summary viewed, with the date, the person who checked, and the PDF summary or copy filed with the care record.
• For a property and financial affairs LPA, whether the attorney is already acting with the resident's permission while the resident has capacity, and who the home should send fee invoices to.
• For a health and welfare LPA, that authority applies only to decisions the resident lacks capacity to make, with a pointer to each capacity assessment.

The preferences a donor wrote into the LPA matter even where they do not bind the attorney. Anyone deciding in the resident's best interests must consider, under section 4(6)(a), “the person's past and present wishes and feelings (and, in particular, any relevant written statement made by him when he had capacity)”, and under section 4(7), where it is practicable and appropriate to consult them, must take into account the views of “anyone engaged in caring for the person or interested in his welfare” and of “any donee of a lasting power of attorney granted by the person”. Copying the preferences into the care plan keeps them in front of the staff who follow it.

The Code of Practice ties the attorney into the care plan itself. Paragraph 7.25: “When healthcare or social care staff are involved in preparing a care plan for someone who has appointed a personal welfare attorney, they must first assess whether the donor has capacity to agree to the care plan or to parts of it. If the donor lacks capacity, professionals must then consult the attorney and get their agreement to the care plan.” It goes on: “They will also need to consult the attorney when considering what action is in the person's best interests.” That “must” is the Code's wording; the legal duty under section 42(4) of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 is for professionals and paid carers to have regard to the Code. The Code is the 2007 edition, still the one in force. CQC's guidance on Regulation 11: Need for consent adds that where a person lacks capacity “staff must act in accordance with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and associated code of practice.” A care plan review should therefore show the attorney's agreement, or the record of consulting them, for the parts the resident could not agree to.

Keep the LPA copy or summary with the resident's care record. No source sets a separate retention period for it; it follows the record it belongs to, which our care records retention guide covers. The home does not need the original, does not register anything with the OPG and does not act for the attorney: it checks and records.

A check is a record of one day. An access code expires after 50 days, attorneys can change, and an LPA can end. Look again at the care plan review, and whenever an attorney's request seems to fall outside what the record says they hold.

Can an attorney see care home records?

Yes, within limits set by what the attorney may decide. Paragraph 16.9 of the Code of Practice: “An attorney acting under a valid LPA or EPA (and sometimes a deputy) can ask to see information concerning the person they are representing, as long as the information applies to decisions the attorney has the legal right to make.” Many requests can be small and informal: “In practice, an attorney or deputy may only require limited information and may not need to make a formal request” (16.10). The attorney “must treat the information confidentially” (16.11).

So a health and welfare attorney who is deciding about the resident's care, for a matter the resident lacks capacity to decide, needs the parts of the care record that bear on that decision, and the home should be able to share them once it has seen the LPA. An attorney asking about something the resident can still decide for themselves is a matter for the resident.

A property and financial affairs attorney is often said to have no right to see a resident's records. That is too simple. The Information Commission's guidance, How do we recognise a subject access request (SAR)?, says: “You need to check the type and circumstances of the particular power of attorney to determine whether the third party is authorised to make a SAR. However, it's reasonable to assume that an attorney with authority to manage someone's property and affairs has the appropriate authority to make a SAR on their behalf.” Informal access outside a SAR stays tied, under paragraph 16.9, to the decisions the attorney can make.

Being next of kin, by itself, gives no such authority. For a person who lacks capacity to manage their own affairs, the ICO notes there are “no specific provisions that enable a third party to make a SAR on behalf of such a person” in the UK GDPR or the Mental Capacity Act 2005, which is why it looks for a power of attorney or an appointment by the Court of Protection. The Regulation 11 guide covers the same point for consent.

Obstructing a valid request can be a crime. In September 2025 a care home director was found guilty of blocking, erasing or concealing records requested by a resident's daughter who held a lasting power of attorney, and fined; our guide to the care home privacy notice sets out what to tell residents and attorneys about their rights.

Attorneys keep records of their own. Paragraph 7.67 of the Code: “Property and affairs attorneys must keep accounts of transactions carried out on the donor's behalf.” The OPG's page on attorney records and duties tells every attorney to keep a record of “important decisions you make and when you make them”, and says the OPG and the Court of Protection may “contact other people such as the donor's family, bank or care workers” when they check an attorney's decisions. The home's own record of what an attorney agreed, and when, may be one of the things they ask about.

When an attorney is not acting in the resident's best interests

Care staff are often the first to see that something is wrong, and the Code of Practice names signs that will be familiar in a care home. Paragraph 7.70 says signs that an attorney may be exploiting the donor, or failing to act in their best interests, include:

• “stopping relatives or friends contacting the donor”
• “not allowing healthcare or social care staff to see the donor”
• “unpaid bills (for example, residential care or nursing home fees)”

Paragraph 7.71: “Somebody who suspects abuse should contact the OPG immediately. The OPG may direct a Court of Protection Visitor to visit an attorney to investigate. In cases of suspected physical or sexual abuse, theft or serious fraud, the person should contact the police. They might also be able to refer the matter to the relevant local adult protection authorities.”

The OPG's page Report a concern about an attorney, deputy or guardian says “Anyone can report a concern”, including “professionals, such as care workers or bank staff”, and that “The OPG will not tell the attorney, deputy or guardian where the report has come from.” The OPG can investigate only “when the person who is having decisions made for them does not have the mental capacity to deal with the issue themselves.” It also says: “If you're reporting on behalf of a public authority, do your own safeguarding checks first.”

A report to the OPG runs alongside the home's safeguarding procedure, not instead of it: financial abuse is a safeguarding matter, and our guide to safeguarding in care homes covers the referral to the local authority. Record what staff saw and when, what the resident said in their own words, who was told and what was decided – the same facts the OPG, the police or the local authority will ask for.

The attorney's decisions that arrive by text

The LPA check happens once, at the reception desk. The attorney's decisions arrive afterwards, and mostly by message. A son with a health and welfare LPA texts the manager at nine in the evening agreeing to a change in his mother's care plan. A daughter messages the key worker's own phone to say her father should not have the flu vaccine this year. An attorney asks by text for last month's daily notes. A property and financial affairs attorney replies that the fees will be late again.

Each of those is part of the record the home relies on under the Mental Capacity Act: the agreement to the care plan that paragraph 7.25 of the Code says staff must get, a decision under the LPA, a request for information under paragraph 16.9, and possibly one of the signs in paragraph 7.70. If they sit on personal phones, the care plan says the attorney agreed but the home cannot show where or when, and the messages leave with the member of staff.

ComplyChat is designed to keep those conversations on the provider's record. Relatives join a channel the provider holds by their mobile number, verified by SMS, so an attorney does not need an account on the provider's systems; everyone added is told the channel is on the record and can object or leave; and messages are recorded on the server as they are sent. On paid plans, once the provider's Microsoft 365 tenant is connected, conversations are kept under the retention schedules within its own Microsoft 365 subscription. ComplyChat does not verify LPAs, search the OPG register or hold care plans, and it is not a family portal: the LPA check and the care plan stay where your policy puts them.

A question for the next management meeting: for the last decision an attorney made about a resident, could you show who made it, under which LPA, and where they said so?

Questions people ask

Why do care homes need a copy of a power of attorney?

Because a lasting power of attorney gives authority only if it is registered, only within its type and only subject to any restrictions in it, and the home can see those only in the document or the OPG's online summary: under section 9 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 an LPA “is not created unless” it is registered, and its authority is subject to “any conditions or restrictions specified in the instrument”. The Code of Practice says information can be released once the holder is satisfied, “having seen appropriate authority”.

Can I check if someone has power of attorney?

Yes. You can ask the Office of the Public Guardian to search its registers by sending form OPG100; it is free and the OPG says it will respond within 5 working days, longer if it replies by post. Local authorities, police and NHS staff have a separate urgent enquiry route.

Can I view a lasting power of attorney online?

Yes, for an LPA registered in England and Wales on or after 1 January 2016. The attorney or donor creates an access code (13 characters, starting with V, valid for 50 days), and the organisation enters the donor's surname and the code and gives its own name to see a one-page summary showing whether the LPA is still valid and registered, the attorneys, how decisions are made and any restrictions. Each LPA needs its own code, and older LPAs must be shown on paper.

How do I get a copy of a lasting power of attorney?

An attorney can prove the LPA with the original registered document, a certified copy, or the online summary. The donor can certify a copy while they still have capacity, and under section 3 of the Powers of Attorney Act 1971 copies can also be certified by a solicitor, a person authorised to carry out notarial activities, a stockbroker or, since 18 November 2023, a chartered legal executive.

Does a power of attorney have to keep records?

Yes. The OPG tells attorneys to keep a record of important decisions and when they were made, and a property and financial affairs attorney must also record the donor's assets, income and spending; the Code of Practice says property and affairs attorneys “must keep accounts of transactions carried out on the donor's behalf” (paragraph 7.67).

Who has more rights, next of kin or power of attorney?

An attorney acting within a registered LPA. Being next of kin does not, by itself, give any legal authority to make decisions for a resident or to obtain their records: a relative needs the resident's written authority, a lasting power of attorney or a deputyship; the Regulation 11 guide explains who can consent.

Official guidance and your next step

The law is in sections 9 and 11 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, with the Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice (chapter 7 on lasting powers of attorney, chapter 16 on access to information; parts of chapter 16 still refer to the Data Protection Act 1998, which has been replaced). The Office of the Public Guardian's guides on managing a lasting power of attorney, viewing an LPA, searching its registers and reporting a concern set out the practical routes; the Information Commission's right of access guidance covers requests by attorneys. Quotations are from those pages as checked on 29 and 30 October 2026.

This guide covers care homes and home care providers in England and Wales, where the LPA law is the same; the CQC guidance quoted applies in England. It is not legal advice about a particular resident, attorney or dispute.

Then do one thing: pick five residents whose records name an attorney, and for each check that the care plan shows the type of LPA, how it was verified and when, and the restrictions in the donor's own words. Where the answer is “the family told us”, that is the check to make first.