LPA Certificate Provider
As well as your attorney’s, in order to write a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) you will also need someone known as the ’Certificate Provider’ to sign the certificate on the LPA form. Your certificate provider must be someone acceptable to the Office of the Public Guardian in order that the form is not rejected when you try to register your LPA.
What is the Certificate Provider?
The certificate provider is someone that you choose to confirm that you understand the Lasting Power of Attorney. Their job is to confirm that you appreciate and understand the powers that you are giving to your attorneys and that you are making your LPA through your own free will and not under any pressure.
They are also there as a safety measure to make sure that your LPA is not being completed fraudulently.
Who can be the Certificate Provider?
These are the people who can be your certificate provider...
- 1. Someone who has known you for at least two years or
- 2. Has relevant skill or judgement to be able to form a professional judgement about your understanding.
If you decide to choose someone with relevant professional skills, they must be one of the following:
- •a registered healthcare professional (such as your GP)
- •a solicitor, barrister, or advocate
- •a registered social worker
- •An Independent Mental Capacity Advocate (IMCA)
- •someone who considers that they have the relevant professional skills and can specify what they are (in the second box on page 9 of your LPA).
Who cannot be a Certificate Provider?
Most family members are excluded from being your certificate provider, mainly
- • spouse, partner or civil partners (or people living together as such)
• children, grandchildren
• parents, grandparents
• brothers, sisters
• aunts, uncles
• nieces, nephews.
The following people also cannot be certificate providers
- • an attorney or replacement attorney named either in this lasting power of attorney or any other lasting power of attorney or enduring power of attorney for the donor
- • a family member related to you or any of your attorneys or replacements
- • a business partner or paid employee of your or any of their attorneys or replacements
- • the owner, director, manager or employee of a care home in which you live, or a member of their family
- • a director or employee of a trust corporation appointed as an attorney or replacement attorney in your lasting power of attorney.
Where can I get a Certificate Provider?
If you use a solicitor or legal adviser to draw up your LPA they will normally act as your certificate provider.
How many Certificate Providers do I need?
You can ask the Office of the Public Guardian to notify up to five people when an application is made to register your Lasting Power of Attorney. This is to protect you. Although they do not need to do anything when they receive the notification, it gives them the opportunity to raise concerns.
If you choose not to notify anyone when your LPA is registered you will need to have two Certificate Providers. Otherwise you need only one.
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