Why LPAs Get Rejected (and How to Avoid It): 2026 Guide

Guides › Written and last reviewed by the Downloadawill Will Team on 21 October 2026. Applies to England & Wales.

Most rejected Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) are turned down for small form-filling mistakes, not because there's anything wrong with the choices the donor has made. The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), which registers LPAs, rejected 50,918 applications because of mistakes in 2023-24, more than double the 24,458 rejected in 2019-20. These are the most recent figures available at the time of writing (Which?, November 2024). Every mistake on the lists below can be spotted by checking the forms carefully before they're sent.

This guide covers LPAs made in England and Wales on the current paper forms. There are two types: Property and Financial Affairs, and Health and Welfare. Your attorneys are the people you choose to make decisions for you if you can't. Scotland and Northern Ireland have different systems.

How many LPAs are rejected each year?

Rejections have risen sharply in recent years. Which? obtained these figures from the Ministry of Justice through a Freedom of Information request (Which?, 2024).

Source: Ministry of Justice figures obtained by Which?, November 2024.

That is 162,023 rejected applications over five years. Each one meant delay, extra cost and, for some families, an LPA that wasn't ready when it was needed.

What are the most common LPA mistakes?

An LPA form runs to around 20 pages, and every signature, date and box has to be right. In our experience of preparing LPAs, these are the mistakes we see most often:

• Missing signatures. One unsigned section, or one person forgetting to sign, is enough for the whole application to be sent back.
• Missing dates. Every signature needs its date filled in.
• Dates in the wrong order. The dates must show that everyone signed in the correct sequence. If a date goes backwards at any point, the application will be rejected.
• Crossings-out and corrections. Changes made with correction fluid or scribbled over can make a page unacceptable. If you make a mistake, it's often safer to print that page again.
• Missing pages. Every page of the form must be sent, including pages you haven't needed to fill in.
• Undated or wrongly dated continuation sheets. Any continuation sheets must be signed by the donor on the same date as their main signature.

Which?'s research adds several other common causes (Which?, 2024):

• Ineligible witnesses, such as an attorney witnessing the donor's signature.
• Initials instead of full names, or missing middle names, dates of birth or address details.
• The wrong form, an outdated version, or pages taken from the other type of LPA.
• Pencil or correction gel instead of black or blue ink.
• Contradictory instructions, such as asking attorneys who can act alone to also take majority decisions.

What is the correct signing order for an LPA?

The signing order is where many applications go wrong. The guidance notes on the official LPA forms (LP1F and LP1H) set the order. Everyone signs their own section, and each person must sign after the people before them:

1. The donor signs first. The donor is the person making the LPA. On a Health and Welfare LPA, the donor also signs the section about life-sustaining treatment at the same time. The donor's signature must be witnessed.
2. The certificate provider signs next. The certificate provider confirms that the donor understands the LPA and isn't being pressured into it. Their signature doesn't need a witness.
3. The attorneys and any replacement attorneys sign last. Replacement attorneys step in if an attorney can no longer act. Each attorney's signature must be witnessed.
4. Then the application to register is signed and sent. This is only done once everyone else has signed.

Signatures can all be made on the same day, as long as the order is followed.

Who can witness an LPA?

Under the form guidance, every witness must be aged 18 or over. Your attorneys and replacement attorneys can't witness your signature, and you can't witness theirs. Your certificate provider is allowed to witness your signature. Ideally, we recommend that the certificate provider meets everyone and witnesses every signature in person, so the whole signing is seen by one independent person. Witnessing must be done in person. Our guide to who can witness a will explains how these rules differ from those for wills.

What does a rejected LPA cost you?

A rejection costs money and, more importantly, time. Registering an LPA costs £92, or £184 for both types. According to the Office of the Public Guardian, some mistakes can be corrected and the application resubmitted within three months for £46. Other mistakes mean making a new LPA and paying the full £92 fee a second time.

Time is often the bigger cost. The OPG says registration takes 8 to 10 weeks when there are no mistakes, though in our experience it takes at least 12 weeks. If the application has to be resubmitted or redone, the wait starts again. When the OPG sends forms back for a correction, its letter sets a deadline, which can be just a few weeks away. That's separate from the three-month resubmission window above. Miss the deadline and the whole process starts again.

This happened to a member of our own team when making an LPA for their mother. One witness wrote a date incorrectly, and the OPG sent the forms back for correction with a three-week deadline. They had to travel from the UK to family members in the USA and then Hong Kong, and back again. That simply couldn't be done in time, so the whole process had to start again. It took the best part of a year to get that LPA registered.

Delays matter for another reason. An LPA can't be registered after the donor has died. And if the donor loses mental capacity (the ability to make their own decisions) while a rejected application is being sorted out, they can no longer make a new LPA. The family may then need to apply to the Court of Protection (the court that makes decisions for people who can't make them themselves), which is slower and more expensive.

How can you avoid your LPA being rejected?

The simplest protection is to have the forms checked before they're sent. These steps help prevent the most common rejections:

• Use the current forms and keep all the pages of one LPA together.
• Write full names, dates of birth and addresses exactly as they appear on official documents.
• Follow the signing order and check that no date goes backwards.
• Choose eligible witnesses and a suitable certificate provider. A certificate provider can't be a member of your family or of any attorney's family.
• Use black or blue ink, with no correction fluid.
• Check every page before posting, counting signatures and dates against the list of people involved.

With Downloadawill, you complete a simple online questionnaire and our team prepares your LPA documents and checks them, so that common mistakes are caught before anything reaches the OPG. We never sell or pass on your details. Our fee is £75 per LPA, or £140 for both types together. See our Lasting Power of Attorney service or the full price list.

Frequently asked questions

Can I fix a rejected LPA?

Sometimes. If the OPG writes asking for a correction, reply by the deadline in its letter. If the application is returned, the Office of the Public Guardian may let you correct it and resubmit within three months for £46, depending on the mistake. If the mistake can't be corrected, for example because the signing order was wrong, you'll need to make a new LPA and pay the full fee again.

How long does it take to register an LPA?

The OPG says 8 to 10 weeks if there are no mistakes, but in our experience it takes at least 12 weeks. A rejection adds further weeks, or even months, while the forms are corrected or redone, so it's worth getting them right first time.

Who can be a certificate provider?

Either someone who has known the donor well for at least two years, such as a friend, neighbour or colleague, or a professional such as the donor's GP or a solicitor. They can't be one of the attorneys or replacement attorneys, or a member of the donor's family or of any attorney's family.

Is the new digital LPA available yet?

The Powers of Attorney Act 2023 will bring in a new digital way of making LPAs, but at the time of writing the current paper process still applies. We'll update this guide when the new system is introduced.

Getting your LPA right first time

Most rejected LPAs fail on details: a missing date, a signature in the wrong order, a page left out. The forms are long, and the OPG is strict about every one of those details. If you'd like your LPA prepared and checked by people who do this every day, contact our team.

About this guide

This guide was written and checked by the Downloadawill Will Team. Downloadawill is a trading style of Direct Wills, a member of the Society of Will Writers. We've been writing wills for people in England and Wales since 1997, and we prepare Lasting Powers of Attorney too. Read more about us.