The Nation�s Naivety Around Lasting Power Of Attorney
Millions of adults are under the impression that, if they were to lose capacity, their loved ones would have the immediate right to make decisions regarding their life, whether they be medical or financial.
The research, by Direct Line Life Insurance, has revealed that 80% of British adults believe that the person they assume will take over their affairs will be granted this privilege without any official document indicating a person’s express wishes.
Only 14% of the population have made a lasting power of attorney (LPA) and that only 6% have legally nominated a person to make decisions on their behalf in the devastating circumstances of them losing capacity.
Without any LPA, a person is leaving the vital and personal decision of who will make decisions on your behalf to the Court of Protection.
In part, this is because 38% of respondents were unaware of what a lasting power of attorney actually is.
However, these statistics are in relative contrast to recent statistics released by the Office for National Statistics revealing that the use of lasting power of attorneys (LPA) have astronomically increased over the past decade.
According to the ONS statistics taken from the Office of Public Guardian (OPG), 759,976 application were made in the year to April. This is over thirteen times more than the 52,492 applications that were made during this same time frame in 2008.
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This message was added on Thursday 25th April 2019
