LPA and Pensions, What You Can and Cannot Do

If you hold a Lasting Power of Attorney for property and financial affairs, you have significant powers over pension matters, but there are important limitations. Understanding what you can and cannot do with lasting power of attorney pensions authority is essential before you act.

## What LPA for Property and Financial Affairs Covers

A Lasting Power of Attorney for property and financial affairs gives you the legal authority to manage another person's financial matters when they can no longer do so themselves. This covers bank accounts, investments, property, tax affairs, and pensions.

The LPA must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before it can be used. An unregistered LPA has no legal force. Registration currently takes 8-12 weeks, which is why acting early, before capacity is fully lost, is so important for lasting power of attorney pensions matters.

## What You Can Do with LPA, Pension Powers

With a registered LPA for property and financial affairs you can instruct a research and administrative assistance service like PensionHunter to search for forgotten pensions. You can contact pension providers and request information about the person's entitlements. You can receive pension statements, valuations and scheme details. You can authorise pension drawdown or income payments on the person's behalf.

These powers allow you to take complete control of lasting power of attorney pensions management, finding, tracking and managing pension entitlements that the person can no longer handle themselves.

## What You Cannot Do, LPA Limitations

There are restrictions on what an LPA holder can do with pensions. You generally cannot make investment decisions that go beyond the person's established pattern, for example, switching a cautious pension into high-risk investments. You cannot override a nominated beneficiary designation on a pension, that is the pension scheme trustees' decision. You cannot transfer a pension to yourself or use pension funds for your own benefit.

If you are unsure whether a specific action falls within your LPA authority, consult a solicitor. The Office of the Public Guardian provides guidance on LPA responsibilities.

## The Difference Between LPA and Court of Protection

An LPA is created voluntarily by the person while they still have capacity. A Court of Protection deputyship order is imposed by the court when someone has already lost capacity without creating an LPA. Both give authority over financial affairs including lasting power of attorney pensions management, but the Court of Protection route is slower (4-6 months), more expensive in sterling court and supervision fees, and involves ongoing court oversight.

## Acting Early, Why the Window Matters

The critical window for lasting power of attorney pensions action is between the LPA being registered and the person's capacity declining significantly. During this period, the person may still be able to recall fragments of their employment history, employer names, approximate dates, countries worked in. This information is invaluable for a pension search.

Once capacity is fully lost, you rely entirely on documents, old records, and employment traces. Every month of delay risks losing information permanently.

## How to Use LPA to Search for Forgotten Pensions

PensionHunter accepts instruction from LPA holders to search for pension entitlements across all 41 countries we cover. Provide a certified copy of the registered LPA, the person's details and employment history, and we conduct the research.

Dementia- and LPA-authorised pension research through PensionHunter is currently paused pending legal review.

*This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. PensionHunter is a research and administrative assistance service and is not regulated by the FCA or any equivalent financial regulator.*

At PensionHunter, building the World's Trusted Pension Identification Platform, we help people across 41 countries find pension records they had forgotten about.