This week
The first decisions under an LPA
When authority activates and the people to inform — a free institutional brief on the operational shape of the first weeks.
Open the Capacity Action Brief → All continuity events
Event review · someone must act
Capacity is failing, or lost
The person is still here, but can no longer make or communicate a particular decision. The operational moment is not abstract — it is the point at which someone else must prove authority to act.
§I
What changes
A bank, care provider, local authority or clinician will not act on family concern alone. They ask what authority exists, who holds it, and whether the instrument covers the decision in question — under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
Records to locate
- The registered Lasting Power of Attorney and any certified copies
- A custody note showing where the LPA is held
- An authority register identifying who may act, and for which decisions
- The escalation/adviser route to use where capacity is disputed or no LPA exists
Authority to prove
- Property & financial affairs LPA — money and property decisions
- Health & welfare LPA — usable only once the donor lacks capacity for the decision
- Where no valid LPA exists and capacity is lost: a Court of Protection deputyship order
Formal requirements
- An LPA must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before it can be used
- Capacity under the MCA 2005 is decision-specific and time-specific — assessed against the decision to be made
- If the planning interval has closed with no LPA, the route shifts from voluntary planning to court-supervised authority
Immediate actions
- Locate the registered LPA and confirm which type covers the decision
- Identify the attorneys and the scope of their authority
- Engage institutions under the correct instrument — do not present the wrong LPA
§II
What to do, in order
One thing to do this week, one tool to use now, one conversation to have. Each routes into a free Valoren tool — no card, no sign-up to start.
The tool
If there is no LPA yet
The Power of Attorney guide explains the registration timeline (8–10 weeks) and the Court of Protection alternative — the slower, costlier, one-way door.
Open the guide →The conversation
While capacity remains in some areas
Talk through current decisions while you still can. The 'If I Lose Capacity Tomorrow' composition shows what that looks like.
Open the sample →Forms you may need — each a plain-English walkthrough
Rather have it done for you?
Signum can index and locate the LPA, certified copies and authority register so the right instrument is to hand on day one.