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A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) before it can legally be used. A signed but unregistered LPA has no legal effect whatsoever. Registration currently takes approximately 20 weeks via the online MyLPA service and costs £82 per LPA.
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The gap between signing an LPA and registering it is one of the most dangerous mistakes people make in planning for the future. Signing an LPA is only the first step — until it is registered with the Office of the Public Guardian, it cannot be used by anyone. This guide explains the registration process in full and highlights the critical timing considerations.
An LPA document becomes legally valid only once it has been registered with the Office of the Public Guardian. A signed, even witnessed and certified LPA that has not been registered has no legal effect and cannot be used by the attorney.
This matters enormously in practice. Consider a common scenario: an elderly person signs an LPA in case they lose mental capacity, but does not register it immediately, thinking they will do so “when needed.” If they then have a stroke or are diagnosed with dementia, they may no longer have the mental capacity to consent to registering the LPA — and if the LPA has not already been registered, it cannot be used. The family is then left with no choice but to apply to the Court of Protection for a deputyship order, which is far more expensive, time-consuming, and intrusive.
The only safe approach is to register the LPA immediately after it is signed and witnessed. Registration costs £82 per LPA and there is no disadvantage to registering early.
Register now — do not wait for a crisis
The OPG’s current processing time for LPA registration is approximately 20 weeks. If you delay registration until the donor is unwell, there may not be time to complete the process before capacity is lost. Register as soon as the LPA is signed.
From November 2023, the OPG introduced a new online service called MyLPA (accessed via GOV.UK). For LPAs created and submitted entirely through the MyLPA service, registration is significantly simpler and faster than the old paper process.
Online registration via MyLPA:
Paper registration (existing LPAs):
The OPG strongly recommends using the online MyLPA service for any new LPAs created from November 2023 onwards. For LPAs already created on paper but not yet registered, the paper registration route remains available and is perfectly valid.
The current fee for registering an LPA with the OPG is £82 per LPA. If you are making both a Property and Financial Affairs LPA and a Health and Welfare LPA — which is generally advisable, as they cover different areas of decision-making — the combined cost is £164.
A fee remission scheme (called “Help with Fees” or “remission”) is available for those on low incomes or benefits. Eligibility is assessed based on your gross annual income:
To apply for a fee remission, complete form LPA120A and send it with your LPA registration application. Include evidence of income or benefits as required. The OPG will confirm whether remission is granted before processing the registration.
Before an LPA can be registered, a certificate provider must have signed the document to certify that the donor understands what they are signing and is not being pressured into making the LPA. This is a fundamental safeguard against abuse.
A certificate provider must be someone who:
The certificate provider certifies that in their opinion:
If the OPG receives an LPA without a properly completed certificate provider section, the application will be rejected. This is one of the most common reasons for registration delays, so it is worth ensuring the certificate provider section is completed correctly before submission.
As of early 2026, the OPG is processing LPA registrations in approximately 20 weeks for online applications. Paper applications can take longer, particularly if there are any errors in the forms that require clarification.
Twenty weeks is a very long time in the context of a sudden health event. A person who has a heart attack, suffers a stroke, or receives a diagnosis of dementia may lose capacity within days or weeks — long before a 20-week processing time would allow a newly registered LPA to be used.
This is why the consistent advice from solicitors, the OPG, and financial advisers is to:
A registered LPA that is never needed costs £82 and sits in a drawer. An unregistered LPA when it is urgently needed can result in an expensive Court of Protection deputyship application costing thousands of pounds and months of delay. The investment in registering early is almost always justified.
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