The UK’s Office of Public Guardian (OPG) has rolled out a ‘Use a power of attorney’ digital tool to speed up the process when it comes to making decisions for a loved one’s care or property.
“The current paper-based process can take weeks,” the government said. “As documents need to be requested and confirmed between organisations and individuals, before being posted as physical copies.
“The new system will allow those acting as an attorney to provide a secure code which, when submitted to the online portal, will nearly instantaneously confirm their status as an attorney and the power they hold – authorising them to take actions on their loved ones’ behalf.”
The tool will be made available from 17 July 2020 to all newly-registered lasting powers of attorney, and it features all the existing checks required, including the confirmation of whether and individual has the legal rights to act as an attorney and what they are entitled to do.
The system was designed and developed with HSBC UK Retail.
Improving an ‘emotional and difficult process’
Nick Goodwin, public guardian for England and Wales, said: “More people are taking the important step to plan for the future and apply for a lasting power of attorney, and we want to make sure those they entrust with making vital decisions on their behalf receive the very best possible support.
“Our new digital service will ensure attorneys can make effective and efficient decisions when managing their loved ones’ affairs – without the delays a paper-based services can cause.”
Justice minister Alex Chalk added: “This new innovative system will make a real and positive difference to people dealing with what can be an emotional and difficult process.
“It is just the latest example of the way we are using technology throughout the justice system to create better, more effective services for the public.”
Efficiency always welcome
Gordon Andrews, financial planning expert at Quilter, believes that the current covid-19 crisis has shown the need to have support from family and friends, as well as to embrace technological developments.
“It is very pleasing to see the government bring lasting power of attorney into the digital age, allowing people to quickly act on behalf of their loved ones,” he said.
“Acting as an attorney can be an emotional and difficult process as it often means you are taking actions for someone close to you who may not be in the capacity to do so themselves, and as such the process needed to be made as seamless and efficient as possible.
“This means less time will be wasted spent copying and sending the deed to different financial institutions who the donor has a relationship with. We are hopeful this is the first in a long line of changes to make managing your financial affairs and welfare matters much more efficient and less daunting.”
Faster or disaster?
While Kelly Greig, head of later life planning at Irwin Mitchell, has welcomed the government’s initiative, she said there are still some questions, especially around the effectiveness and cyber-safety of the service.
“There are only two ways this can go: faster or disaster,” she said. “Faster because the process would cut a lot of the red tape around getting lasting power of attorney applications sorted; and disaster because safeguarding needs are a risk with any digital process, making it ripe for abuse.
“The announcement raises a lot of questions around how the online system would work. The devil is in the detail with this – will communication be properly handled; how will it handle those who aren’t set up for digital yet and the stringency of the process outside just sending financial documents all come to mind.
“Mitigating any risk of more abuse should be front and centre of any changes. We’ve been successful in resisting a fully online service and maintaining wet signatures for this very reason; there’s also the issue that the secure code could be open to abuse, with it being found by someone else and used to get access to sensitive information.
“If the abuse is prolonged, then the situation can lead to an emotionally draining and costly Will dispute battle, where it’s clear that finances and assets could have been mishandled. We may see more mental capacity-related disputes after death if the system isn’t watertight.
“Anything that is going to speed up the process by which lasting power of attorney documents get noted on the files and the relevant intuitions and they allow you to act is to be welcomed; the current process is far too long to the detriment of the person who’s lost capacity.
“However, at the heart of this are the elderly and vulnerable who need protecting, and their best interests need to be ring-fenced every step of the way,” Greig added.
