Which Power of Attorney do you need? Types of Power of Attorney in the UK

For the vast majority of people in England and Wales planning ahead, the answer is both Lasting Powers of Attorney: Health and Welfare for medical and care decisions, Property and Financial for money and property. Keystone sets up either for £69 each, with a free Will included (worth £59), and the second is 25% off in the same order.

When people talk about setting up a Power of Attorney these days, they almost always mean a Lasting Power of Attorney. There are two, and they cover different halves of your life. The Property and Financial Affairs one covers your money: bank accounts, bills, pensions, investments and your home. The Health and Welfare one covers your body and your care: medical treatment, where you live, and day to day decisions about your wellbeing.

The big practical difference is when they switch on. A Property and Financial Lasting Power of Attorney can be used as soon as it is registered, with your permission, which is handy if you are ever in hospital and the bills still need paying. A Health and Welfare one can only ever be used once you have lost the capacity to make the decision yourself. That is why most people setting up for the future take both. Leave one out and there is a whole half of your life no one can step into.

The other two come up far less often. An Enduring Power of Attorney is the older document that the Lasting Power of Attorney replaced. You cannot make a new one any more, but if a parent signed one before October 2007 it is still valid for money matters. The catch is that an Enduring Power of Attorney never covered health and care decisions, so it leaves a gap that a modern Health and Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney fills.

An ordinary Power of Attorney is a different tool altogether. It gives someone authority to act for you for a set period while you still have full capacity, perhaps to handle a property sale while you are abroad, or to manage your affairs during a long stay in hospital. It is quick to set up and needs no registration, but it ends the moment you lose capacity. That single limitation is exactly why it is no substitute for a Lasting Power of Attorney when you are planning for the future.

Start from what you are actually trying to do. If you are planning ahead so your family is covered if your health ever fails, you want both Lasting Powers of Attorney, and setting them up together is cheaper and simpler. If you have found an old Enduring Power of Attorney in a parent's paperwork, keep relying on it for their finances but add a Health and Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney so care decisions are not left uncovered.

If all you need is for someone to act for you for a short, defined period while you are still perfectly capable, an ordinary Power of Attorney does the job. For everything that is about protecting yourself against the loss of capacity, whether through age, illness or an accident, the Lasting Power of Attorney is the only one of the four that actually holds up. If you are still not sure, our Lasting Power of Attorney guidance walks through it in more detail.