The bank will not accept our lasting power of attorney: what to do

A registered lasting power of attorney is a legal document, and a bank has no general right to refuse to deal with a properly appointed attorney. Every bank has its own process for putting an attorney on an account, though, and branch and call centre staff get that process wrong more often than they should. The fastest fix is usually not the original document at all but a GOV.UK access code the bank can check in minutes. This guide sets out the order to do things in, from the checks the bank will make to the Financial Ombudsman if it comes to that.

First, check what the bank will check

Before you argue with anyone, check the LPA against these points. Justified refusals nearly always fail on one of them.

• Is it registered? Look for the Office of the Public Guardian's stamp and the registration date on the front page. An LPA that has been signed but never registered gives you no authority at all. The guide to registering an LPA covers the £92 fee and the 8 to 10 week wait.
• Is it the right type? Only a property and financial affairs LPA lets you deal with money. A health and welfare LPA gives the bank nothing to act on, however clearly it is registered.
• Can it be used yet? Most property and financial affairs LPAs can be used as soon as they are registered, with the donor's agreement while they have capacity. Some say the attorney can act only once the donor has lost capacity, and then the bank is entitled to ask for evidence, usually a GP's letter.
• Are you named? Check that you are an attorney, not a replacement. A replacement can act only when an original attorney has died, lost capacity or stepped down, and the bank will want evidence of that.
• Jointly, or jointly and severally? If the attorneys are appointed jointly, every decision needs all of you, so the bank will register all of you and want every instruction signed by everyone. Jointly and severally means any one of you can act alone. Some LPAs mix the two for particular decisions.

If all of that checks out, the problem is the bank's process, not your document.

The fastest route: an access code from GOV.UK

For any LPA registered on or after 1 January 2016, the Use a lasting power of attorney service on GOV.UK replaces the paper. The donor or any attorney creates an account with the LPA's 12 digit reference number, printed on the front of the document, and the service produces an access code. You give that code and the donor's surname to the bank, the bank enters it online, and it sees a summary of the LPA from the OPG's register. The code lasts 30 days, you can create as many as you need, and you can see which organisations have used them.

It is quicker, safer and harder to argue with than paper. Most high street banks accept the code, and a good number ask for it first. If the person in front of you does not know what it is, ask for someone who does.

If the LPA was registered before 1 January 2016, or it is an enduring power of attorney, the service will not have it and you are in the next section.

Older or paper only LPAs: certified copies

Where the online service does not apply, the bank needs a certified copy under the Powers of Attorney Act 1971, not a photocopy.

• Every page carries a signed note saying it is a true copy of the corresponding page of the original. The final page adds that the whole document is a true and complete copy.
• The donor can certify it, but only while they have the capacity to do so. Otherwise a solicitor, notary or chartered legal executive certifies it. A family member cannot.
• The bank may ask to see the original in branch, and may ask for your own photo ID and proof of address so it can register you. Both are reasonable.
• The bank should not insist that the original is posted to it, that the donor attends in person when they have lost capacity, or that its own internal form is the only way in.

Do not let the original out of your hands. If it is lost, the OPG can issue an office copy, but that takes weeks, and every other institution will want to see the LPA too. Have several certified copies made at once and hand those over.

What the bank should do once it has the LPA

• Record the LPA on the donor's file and register you as attorney on each account the LPA covers.
• Keep the account in the donor's name. The money is still theirs. You are operating the account, not taking it over.
• Issue you with your own card, cheque book, online banking or telephone banking, as the account allows, in your name as attorney.
• Leave the donor free to carry on using the account too, if they still have capacity and want to.

Most banks turn this round within 5 to 10 working days of having everything. If a branch or call centre refuses or stalls, the sentence to use is: please escalate this to your power of attorney team. Almost every bank has one, and it is the branch, not the specialist team, that usually gets it wrong. Ask for a reference number and follow up in writing the same day.

When it goes wrong: complaints, frozen accounts and joint accounts

If escalation does not work, make a formal complaint in writing. Head it as a complaint, give the dates and names, and say what you want done. The bank then has eight weeks to send you a final response. If it does not, or the answer is no, you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. It is free, and you have six months from the final response to refer it. Banks know this, and a written complaint often unlocks the account faster than any phone call.

The harder problem is money falling due while the account is frozen. A worked example. Your mother's care home costs £4,200 a month by direct debit. The bank froze her current account when it learned she had lost capacity, and the direct debit has failed twice. Three things to do at once. Tell the bank in writing that the freeze is harming a vulnerable customer and ask for essential payments to be released while it completes its checks. Ask the care home for a short written hold, which most will give once they know an LPA exists. If you have to, pay from your own money and keep every receipt: an attorney can repay themselves from the donor's account for money spent on the donor's behalf, provided the records show it.

Joint accounts add a twist. If your mother holds an account jointly with your father, the bank may restrict it when it learns she has lost capacity, even though he can still manage his own affairs. Banking industry guidance says the other holder should normally be allowed to carry on, but practice varies, so your father should be in the room, or on the letter, when you deal with the bank. Your authority under the LPA covers your mother's share, not his.

The mistakes attorneys make

The ones Aaron sees most often.

• Sending the original by post. Documents go missing, and you have no LPA while you wait for a replacement.
• Using the donor's card and PIN. The card was issued to the donor, on terms that say no one else may use it. Using it as attorney breaks those terms, leaves no record of who did what, and can look like fraud to a bank or a relative later. Get your own card.
• Moving the money into your own account to make it easier. That is mixing, and a breach of your duty as attorney whatever your intentions. The OPG can investigate and the Court of Protection can remove you.
• Not keeping records. Every payment should be one you could explain to the OPG, or to your brother, a year from now.
• Assuming the health and welfare LPA does the job. It does not touch money. Without a property and financial affairs LPA, the route once capacity is lost is a deputyship order, which is slower and dearer.

What to do next

Check the five points at the top of this guide against your document. If they hold, try the access code before anything else. If the bank still refuses, escalate, then complain in writing. Where you would rather not do this yourself, Aaron certifies copies, writes to the bank and deals with the escalation for attorneys, for a fixed fee agreed in writing before any work starts. The LPA service page explains what is included, or you can use the Plan Finder to work out where to begin.

If you are reading this because a parent has not yet lost capacity and there is no LPA in place, the complete guide to lasting powers of attorney is the place to start, and the bank problem never arises.

Aaron Johnson is a Consultant Solicitor and full member of STEP, regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, based in Bridlington. A free 15 minute call is the usual first step. This page is general information about the law of England and Wales. The right answer depends on your facts and on the wording of the LPA in front of you.