Too often banks and Government departments make it unnecessarily difficult for families to take over the financial affairs of elderly relatives, a Midlands lawyer has warned.
Sofia Tayton, of Lodders Solicitors in Stratford-upon-Avon, blamed ignorance and bureaucracy for the problems.
Her comments follow research by Saga into Lasting Powers of Attorney – where people heading into old age nominate someone to act in their stead in the event that they are no longer able to make their own decisions.
LPA registrations with the Office of the Public Guardian have more than trebled in the past three years to 210,000.
But that remains way short of what ideally it should be.
Mrs Tayton, an expert on matters affecting the elderly, said: “The message is getting across and that is very welcome, but, despite campaigns by ourselves and others, many more should be addressing this issue.
“I can understand that some find it difficult to confront their own fallibility, and this is an emotional decision, but in the long run it is much better for both the individual and the family. Without an LPA people are powerless to do even the simplest things on their relatives’ behalf, such as pay their bills.
“As we have highlighted, and Saga too point out, if someone is suddenly unable to make their own decisions through accident or illness, and if they do not have an LPA in place, their family will need to apply to the Court of Protection in order to be appointed as a Deputy to act on their loved one’s behalf, a lengthy and demanding process which can also prove costly.”
But, said Mrs Tayton, a particular concern emerging from the report was how even when people have an LPA they can be struggling to use them with a range of institutions from Government departments through to banks and utility companies – the survey found one in three saying that staff do not appear to be trained to know what LPA means and what their company process is to action one. One in four has to continually show the requisite documents to the same company every time they deal with them.
“It is a problem we too have come across with clients both about running into difficulties without the forms and, sometimes, with the forms, for example, banks will always want to see them but won’t always recognise them!”
She went on: “This is totally unacceptable – institutions need to get their act together.
“If someone contracts Alzheimer’s it can be upsetting enough for family members. Banks, Government departments and utility companies should not then put more difficulties in the way purely because staff are not familiar with, or are not trained to handle, Lasting Powers of Attorney.
“Indeed, quite the contrary, staff should be sympathetic and prepared to go the extra mile to help.”