Lasting Power of Attorney

Alex Easton Excerpts

Tuesday 28th October 2025 Westminster Hall

[Fabian Hamilton]

The hon. Member will hear later in my speech how I intend to address the issue of safeguarding, which is one of the most important parts of the process. Let us be clear that, as I said, the vast majority of lasting powers of attorney have no difficulty, problems or issues whatsoever. We need to concentrate our efforts on the small minority who cause the grief, in respect of whom people need to be safeguarded from abuse.

The Government-regulated safeguarding procedures that I mentioned, in respect of all banks in dealing with LPAs and the accounts of donors, would include a requirement to contact the donor or a GP before an LPA is activated, and the monitoring of spending prior to and after its activation.

I am afraid abuse is rife in a small minority of cases, and the recorded increases do not scratch the surface, given that most cases are undetected, not thoroughly investigated and not reported as often as they should be. The Office of the Public Guardian’s annual report made that clear last year. For example, there has been a 6.5% increase in the number of concerns about abuse raised with the OPG, but a slight decrease, from 34.5% to 33.9%, in the proportion leading to a full investigation. That change might seem small, but a lot of people are affected, and every individual concerned has a family, relatives and friends who are deeply concerned.

Two weeks ago, alongside UK Finance, I hosted a roundtable for banks that administer lasting powers of attorney. They verified that the figures cited have been seen in their work on vulnerability, with the OPG admitting that approximately 65% of potential financial abuses are being disregarded simply because the donor is deemed to have capacity. Let us be clear: someone may have capacity, but that does not mean that they cannot be coerced or financially abused.

[Alex Easton (North Down) (Ind)]

In the light of the projection that 1.4 million people will be living with dementia in the UK in 2040, does the hon. Member agree that we need sufficient safeguards to protect vulnerable people?

[Fabian Hamilton]

With the increase in dementia and with Alzheimer’s projected to rise incrementally, the hon. Gentleman is right that safeguarding needs to be far tighter. I will come on to say what I think that would involve.

At our meeting, several banks highlighted clear failings in safeguarding procedures and investigations by the Office of the Public Guardian. Given that the OPG will not investigate any case in which the donor is deemed to have capacity, and that it has no powers to access the financial records of attorneys, investigations are toothless at best. The banks then face a back and forth with the OPG, as both urge the other to investigate what they claim to be a “civil matter”. Banks regularly ask the OPG whether they should act on an account that is under investigation, but are told it is up to them to decide whether to do so. That begs the question: “What is the purpose of the OPG and why does it lack the powers to act?”

One of the banks raised the example of a single individual to whom tens of LPAs were registered, but UK Finance was not aware, so no investigations took place until concerns were raised and a bank conducted a vulnerability check on the donor, by which time it was too late and the individual had already gathered the funds of several people. That case is sadly not an isolated incident.