LPA vs Enduring Power of Attorney in England: Key Differences
If your parent signed an Enduring Power of Attorney before October 2007, the immediate question is: does it still work? The short answer is yes — but it covers far less ground than a modern LPA, and that gap creates real problems when a parent needs residential care.
EPAs Still Work, But Only for Finances
Enduring Powers of Attorney were replaced by Lasting Powers of Attorney when the Mental Capacity Act 2005 came into force on 1 October 2007. No new EPAs can be created after that date. But existing EPAs that were properly signed before the cutoff remain legally valid.
The critical limitation: an EPA covers only property and financial affairs. There is no EPA equivalent for health and welfare decisions. If your parent has an EPA but no Health and Welfare LPA, no one in the family has legal authority to make decisions about medical treatment, daily care routines, or care home placement. The clinical team and local authority make those decisions instead, consulting the family but not bound by their wishes.
When an EPA Must Be Registered
An EPA can be used immediately after signing — the attorney can manage the donor's finances while the donor still has capacity, provided the donor consents. But the moment the attorney has reason to believe the donor is losing capacity, the EPA must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian. The attorney cannot continue to use an unregistered EPA after the donor has lost capacity.
Registration costs £92 and follows a similar process to LPA registration, including a notification period during which family members can object. The OPG's processing time for EPA registrations runs roughly 8 to 10 weeks.
The Gaps That Catch Families Out
Beyond the missing health and welfare coverage, EPAs lack several safeguards built into the modern LPA framework:
No certificate provider requirement. LPAs require an independent certificate provider to confirm the donor understands the document and isn't being coerced. EPAs had no such safeguard — which means an EPA signed under pressure is harder to challenge.
No replacement attorneys. The EPA framework didn't include a mechanism for naming backup attorneys. If the sole attorney on an EPA dies or loses capacity, the EPA fails entirely. The family must then apply for a Court of Protection deputyship to manage the parent's finances — £432 in court fees, months of processing, and ongoing supervision costs.
No Section 7 instructions or preferences. EPAs don't have the equivalent of the LPA's Section 7 where donors can set conditions and express wishes. The attorney has broad discretionary power with no documented guidance from the donor about how to exercise it.
No digital verification. The OPG's online Use a Lasting Power of Attorney service — where attorneys generate access codes for banks and institutions — only works with LPAs. EPA attorneys must rely on certified paper copies, which some organisations find harder to process.
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Should You Replace an EPA With an LPA?
If your parent still has mental capacity, replacing an old EPA with a full pair of LPAs (Property and Financial Affairs plus Health and Welfare) plugs every gap:
- Health and welfare authority that the EPA never provided
- Replacement attorneys named in case the primary attorney can't continue
- Section 7 instructions and preferences documenting the donor's wishes
- Digital access codes for easier bank and institutional registration
- Certificate provider safeguard against coercion or undue influence
The cost is £92 per LPA (£184 for both types), with the same fee remission and exemption rules that apply to new applications.
If your parent has already lost capacity, they cannot create new LPAs. A registered EPA remains valid for financial matters, and the family must work without formal health and welfare authority — or apply for a personal welfare deputyship through the Court of Protection, which the court grants only in exceptional circumstances.
How to Revoke an LPA
Revocation is relevant when replacing an EPA with LPAs, or when circumstances change (the donor wants different attorneys, or the relationship between donor and attorney has broken down).
While the donor has capacity: The donor can revoke a registered LPA by completing a deed of revocation, signed and witnessed, and sending it with the original LPA to the OPG. The OPG cancels the registration. Any certified copies in circulation should be retrieved and destroyed. The donor should also notify any banks or institutions that have the LPA on file.
After the donor has lost capacity: Only the Court of Protection can revoke an LPA at this point. Grounds include evidence that the attorney is acting dishonestly, failing to act in the donor's best interests, or has become incapable of fulfilling the role. A family member can apply for removal of an attorney and appointment of a replacement (if named) or a deputy.
Partial revocation: If the LPA names multiple attorneys acting jointly and severally, the donor can revoke one attorney's appointment while leaving the others in place. This requires careful drafting to ensure the remaining attorneys can still function effectively.
The England Lasting Power of Attorney & Deputyship Kit includes a full EPA-to-LPA transition guide, covering how to assess whether your parent's existing EPA is adequate, when replacement makes sense, and the signing and registration steps for creating modern LPAs alongside or in place of an old EPA.
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