- Powers of Attorney Act receives Royal Assent
- creates new safeguards to protect against fraud and abuse
- digitalisation to improve processing time and reduce human error
These legal agreements enable a person to grant decision making powers about their care, treatment or financial affairs to another person if they lose mental capacity.
The Powers of Attorney Act fires the starting gun on bringing the existing paper-based process online for the first time. The changes, when introduced, will make the system quicker, easier to access and more secure for the thousands of people who make and rely on a lasting power of attorney every year.
The legislation, which was introduced by Stephen Metcalfe MP and supported by the government, will also strengthen existing fraud protection by allowing checks on the identity of those applying for a lasting power of attorney.
The new online system and the additional safeguards are now being developed by the Office of the Public Guardian. Extensive testing will need to be carried out to ensure the process is simple to use, works as intended and is secure.
