EPA vs LPA: Is Your Enduring Power of Attorney Still Valid in England?

EPAs Are Still Valid — But Limited

Enduring Powers of Attorney created before 1 October 2007 remain legally valid in England. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 replaced EPAs with Lasting Powers of Attorney, but it preserved existing EPAs rather than invalidating them. If your parent signed an EPA in 2003, it still works.

The critical limitation: an EPA only covers property and financial affairs. It gives the attorney no authority over healthcare decisions, care-home placement, or medical treatment. For those decisions, you need a Health and Welfare LPA — a type of document that simply did not exist under the old EPA system.

Key Differences Between EPA and LPA

Scope: An EPA handles finances only. An LPA comes in two types — Property and Financial Affairs (equivalent to the EPA) and Health and Welfare (no EPA equivalent). Families with an old EPA but no Health and Welfare LPA have a gap in their protection.

Registration timing: An EPA does not need to be registered with the OPG until the donor is beginning to lose mental capacity. It can be used without registration while the donor still has capacity. By contrast, an LPA must be registered with the OPG before it can be used at all — even if the donor has full capacity.

Certificate provider: EPAs do not require an independent certificate provider. LPAs do — someone must confirm in writing that the donor understands the LPA and is not under undue pressure. This additional safeguard was introduced specifically because of concerns about elder abuse under the old EPA system.

People to notify: LPAs allow the donor to name people who will be notified when the LPA is submitted for registration, giving them a chance to object. EPAs have a similar notification process, but it triggers only when the attorney applies to register the EPA (i.e., when the donor is losing capacity), not at creation.

When to Register an Old EPA

If you hold an unregistered EPA and the donor is beginning to lose mental capacity, you must register it with the OPG before you can use it. The registration process requires the attorney to notify the donor and at least three of the donor's relatives (in a specific priority order) of the intention to register. Those relatives then have 35 days to object.

The registration fee for an EPA is £92 — the same as for an LPA. Processing time is similar: 8 to 10 weeks in standard periods.

If the donor has already lost capacity and the EPA was never registered, you may still be able to register it — but the OPG will scrutinise the application more carefully and may require evidence of the donor's capacity at the time the EPA was originally signed.

Should You Replace an EPA with an LPA?

It depends on the situation. If the donor still has mental capacity, there are strong reasons to consider creating new LPAs:

Health coverage: An EPA cannot direct healthcare or care decisions. Creating a Health and Welfare LPA alongside the existing EPA fills this gap.

Modernisation: The OPG's digital systems, including the Use an LPA access code service, are designed around LPAs. While EPAs are accepted, some institutions are less familiar with them and may take longer to process them.

The Powers of Attorney Act 2023: This legislation has established the legal framework for a digital-first LPA system, but current LPAs still require printed forms and signatures on the same original document. While paper-based processes continue, the long-term direction is clear — the system is being built around LPAs, not EPAs.

However, replacing an EPA is not always necessary or wise. If the donor is elderly and creating a new document would be stressful, the existing EPA may be perfectly adequate for their financial needs. And if there is any question about the donor's current capacity, attempting to create a new LPA could fail the capacity test, leaving the family worse off than if they had simply registered the existing EPA.

The practical recommendation: if the donor has capacity and is willing, create a Health and Welfare LPA to complement the existing EPA. Whether to also replace the EPA with a new Property and Financial Affairs LPA depends on whether the EPA's terms still suit the family's needs.

For guidance on managing both EPAs and LPAs, including the specific registration requirements for each, see our Lasting Power of Attorney guide.

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