EPOAR Power of Attorney Scotland

What EPOAR Is

EPOAR — the Electronic Power of Attorney Registration portal — is the online system run by the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) Scotland for registering Powers of Attorney. It is the faster of the two registration routes available under the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000, processing submissions in roughly 3–5 working days once the OPG's queue reaches your filing date.

The alternative is postal registration, which follows the same legal process but requires physical documents sent by mail and currently runs at a longer processing time. Both routes end with the same result: a registered deed with a Certificate of Registration issued by the OPG.

The Current Backlog Reality

Neither route is truly fast right now. As of mid-2026, OPG Scotland is processing EPOAR submissions received around April 2025 — an administrative backlog of over 13 months. Postal submissions are running at approximately 12 months.

The "3–5 working days" processing time kicks in only once the queue reaches your submission date. In practice, this means a deed submitted today via EPOAR will sit in the queue for roughly a year before the 3–5 day processing begins.

This backlog makes early registration critical. If you wait until a parent is already in decline, the PoA will sit unregistered and unusable during the very period it is needed most. The OPG offers a free expedited service for crisis situations (roughly 10 working days), but only where specific urgency criteria are met — hospital discharge, imminent financial harm, or an urgent care decision.

How to Submit Through EPOAR

1. Prepare your documents. Scan the signed PoA deed and the completed Schedule 1 Certificate of Capacity as a single, upright PDF. The document must have minimum 3.5 cm header and footer margins — the OPG's automated watermarking process prints the Certificate of Registration stamp into those margins. Maximum file size: 2 MB.

2. Enter the details. The portal requires exact names, dates of birth, addresses, and email addresses for the granter, all attorneys, and any specified persons named in the deed. The granter's date of birth is mandatory — it verifies they are over 16.

3. Complete the attorney declarations. The portal includes a statutory declaration confirming that all named attorneys are willing to act. The OPG may later request the physical signed Attorney Declaration forms, so keep the originals.

4. Pay the fee. The £99 registration fee is paid by credit or debit card through the portal.

5. Submit. Once submitted, the OPG acknowledges receipt and enters the application into the processing queue.

EPOAR vs Post: When You Must Use Post

Two situations force a postal submission even when EPOAR is available:

Fee exemption claims. If the granter qualifies for a fee exemption (receiving Universal Credit, PIP, ADP, or Income-based JSA within the income thresholds), the exemption form and supporting DWP/HMRC evidence must be submitted by post. EPOAR cannot process exemption applications.

Document format issues. If the signed deed cannot be scanned to a legible, upright PDF within the 2 MB limit — common with very long deeds or those written on non-standard paper — postal submission of the original physical documents is the fallback.

After Registration: The Certification Step

This catches families off guard. An EPOAR registration does not end with a final, ready-to-use document.

When the OPG registers the deed electronically, it sends an email notification. The submitter downloads and prints the registered deed, which now carries the OPG's watermarked Certificate of Registration. But each printed page must then be manually certified as a true copy by a solicitor, a stockbroker, a chartered legal executive, or the granter while they still have capacity.

This certification step is unique to EPOAR. Postal submissions return the original physical deed with the OPG's official crest watermark already applied — no additional certification is needed.

Plan for this step before the certification becomes urgent. If the deed is registered electronically and the granter subsequently loses capacity, only a solicitor or other qualifying professional can certify the printed pages. The granter can no longer do it themselves.

Practical Tips for a Clean Submission

• Use a flatbed scanner, not a phone camera — EPOAR submissions are rejected for poor legibility
• Scan in colour if the deed includes any colour elements (stamps, coloured ink)
• Triple-check dates and names against the physical deed — a mismatch between the EPOAR data entry and the scanned document triggers a query
• Save a copy of everything you upload, including the confirmation email and reference number

Our Scotland Power of Attorney & Guardianship Kit includes an EPOAR submission checklist that covers every requirement — from margin specifications and scan settings to the certification step after registration.

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