Generate a Power of Attorney Online for the UK: What You Need to Know First
TL;DR: You can generate power of attorney online United Kingdom-wide only up to a point. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 governs lasting powers of attorney, and the Office of the Public Guardian runs an online service that lets you complete the forms on screen. What you cannot do online is execute it: an LPA still needs wet signatures, a certificate provider, witnesses and registration before anyone can use it.
An ageing population is steadily increasing power of attorney search volume across the UK through 2026. Most of the content answering those searches makes one of two mistakes: it treats "power of attorney" as a single document, or it implies the whole thing can be done on a screen in ten minutes.
Neither is right, and the gap between them is where people lose money and time.
Types of Power of Attorney Under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 via the Office of the Public Guardian
An ordinary (general) power of attorney. Made under the Powers of Attorney Act 1971, it authorises someone to act on your behalf while you still have mental capacity. It is quick, needs no registration, and suits a defined practical purpose: completing a property sale while you are abroad, handling banking during a long absence. Critically, it is revoked automatically if you lose mental capacity, which is exactly when people assume it starts working.
A lasting power of attorney for property and financial affairs. Made under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. It covers money, property, banking, bills and, if you choose, selling your home. It can be used while you still have capacity if you permit that, or only after you lose it.
A lasting power of attorney for health and welfare. Also under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, covering medical treatment, care arrangements and where you live, including whether your attorney may give or refuse consent to life-sustaining treatment. It can only be used once you lack capacity to make the decision yourself.
An enduring power of attorney. The predecessor to the LPA. No new EPA could be made after 30 September 2007, but one made before then remains valid and can still be registered when needed. If you are looking after an older relative's affairs, an EPA may well be the document in the drawer.
The two-document point. Property and financial affairs, and health and welfare, are separate LPAs. Making one does not make the other, and each carries its own registration fee. People routinely make the financial one and assume it covers medical decisions. It does not.
General vs Lasting: Which Do You Need?
Ordinary power of attorney | Lasting power of attorney | |
|---|---|---|
Statute | ||
Survives loss of capacity | No, revoked automatically | Yes, that is its purpose |
Scope | Any lawful act you authorise | Property and finances, or health and welfare, as two separate documents |
Certificate provider required | No | Yes |
Registration | None | With the Office of the Public Guardian, before use |
Fee | None payable to the OPG | £92 per LPA, with reductions or exemption for those eligible |
When it can be used | Immediately, subject to its terms | Financial: on registration if you allow it. Health and welfare: only once you lack capacity |
Typical use | A transaction, a period abroad | Long-term planning for loss of capacity |
If you need someone to act while you are capable but unavailable, you need an ordinary power. If you are planning for the possibility that you will not be capable, only an LPA does the job. Many people need both, for different reasons, and they are not alternatives.
5 Steps to Generate One Correctly
Decide which document you need. Work from whether the authority must survive loss of capacity, and whether you need health and welfare cover as well as financial. Everything else follows.
Choose your attorneys deliberately. Name them precisely, decide whether they act jointly (together on everything) or jointly and severally (either alone), and consider appointing replacements. Joint appointment is a safeguard and also a practical obstacle, because every decision needs everyone.
Complete the forms, which you can genuinely do online. The Office of the Public Guardian's online servicewalks you through the questions, saves your progress, and checks for the errors that cause most rejections. This is the part that has genuinely moved online, and the Powers of Attorney Act 2023 is the legislation behind the wider modernisation of the process.
Print, sign and have it witnessed, in the right order. This is where online stops. The donor signs, a certificate provider confirms you understand the LPA and are not under pressure, and attorneys sign, each with a witness. The order matters: the donor must sign before the attorneys, and the certificate provider before the attorneys too. Getting the sequence wrong is a common reason for rejection.
Register it with the Office of the Public Guardian. An LPA cannot be used until it is registered. The fee is £92 per LPA, with a reduction or exemption if you qualify on low income or certain benefits. Registration takes time, so do it when the document is made rather than when you need it.
What an online tool can and cannot do here. Preparing and completing the forms online is genuinely possible and worth doing, because it reduces the errors that cause rejections. Executing an LPA online is not. Wet signatures, a certificate provider, witnesses and OPG registration are all required, and no generator performs them. Treat any tool implying you can finish a power of attorney entirely on screen with suspicion.
If capacity has already gone
The hardest conversation is the one that starts too late. An LPA can only be made by someone who has the mental capacity to make it, and the certificate provider has to confirm exactly that. Once capacity is lost, no LPA can be created.
The remaining route is an application to the Court of Protection for a deputyship order under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. It works, and many families go this way. But it is slower, considerably more expensive, involves ongoing supervision fees and reporting, and the person whose affairs are managed has no say in who is appointed. An LPA made in advance costs a fraction of that and lets the donor choose their own attorney.
That gap is the entire practical argument for making an LPA while the question is still hypothetical.
The safeguards on an attorney
An attorney under an LPA holds real power over someone else's money or care, so the framework builds in checks.
Statutory duties. An attorney must act in the donor's best interests as the Mental Capacity Act 2005 requires, follow the Act's principles, keep the donor's money separate from their own, and keep accounts.
A certificate provider. An independent person confirms at the outset that the donor understands the document and is not being pressured.
People to notify. The donor may name people to be told when registration is applied for, giving them an opportunity to object.
Oversight. The Office of the Public Guardian supervises attorneys and investigates concerns, and the Court of Protection can remove an attorney who is not acting properly.
What the online service actually saves you
Given that the signing and registration remain on paper, it is fair to ask what the online route is worth. Three things, and they are not trivial.
Error checking. A large share of LPAs are rejected or delayed for avoidable mistakes: a missing date, signatures in the wrong order, a section left blank, an attorney appointment that contradicts itself. The online service checks as you go, and catching those before printing avoids a rejection cycle that can run for weeks.
Sequencing. The service tells you who signs when. The required order, donor, then certificate provider, then attorneys, each properly witnessed, is the single most common thing people get wrong when working from blank paper forms.
Legibility and completeness. A typed, complete form is less likely to be queried than a handwritten one, and the details of every attorney and replacement are captured consistently.
Against that, the parts that remain physical are the parts that exist for a reason. The certificate provider is a safeguard against someone being pressured into signing. Witnessing is a safeguard against forgery. Registration is what makes the document checkable by a bank or a care home. These are not administrative friction left over from a paper age; they are the protections that make an LPA trustworthy enough for a third party to act on.
FAQ
Can I make a power of attorney entirely online in the UK?
No. You can complete the forms through the Office of the Public Guardian's online service, but signing, the certificate provider, witnessing and registration remain outside it.
Does an ordinary power of attorney cover me if I lose capacity?
No. It is revoked automatically. Only a lasting power of attorney under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 continues.
How much does it cost to register an LPA?
£92 per LPA paid to the Office of the Public Guardian, with a reduction or exemption for those eligible. Financial and health and welfare LPAs are separate documents with separate fees.
Can I still make an enduring power of attorney?
No. No new EPA could be made after 30 September 2007, though an existing one remains valid and registrable.
Do I need a solicitor to make an LPA?
Not legally. Many people complete their own. Take advice where the estate is complex, family relationships are difficult, or anyone might later question the donor's capacity.
How long does registration take?
Allow well in advance of when you expect to need it. An LPA cannot be used until the Office of the Public Guardian has registered it.
Key takeaways
An ordinary power of attorney ends automatically when the donor loses mental capacity.
Only a lasting power of attorney under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 survives incapacity, and financial and health and welfare cover are two separate LPAs.
Forms can be completed online; signing, certification, witnessing and registration cannot.
Registration costs £92 per LPA and the document cannot be used until registered.
Once capacity is lost, no LPA can be made and the route becomes a Court of Protection deputyship.
Generate your power of attorney with Ask.Legal, correctly, for the UK
This article is general information about the law of England and Wales as at 2026, not legal advice. For advice on your circumstances, consult a qualified solicitor.