General Power of Attorney and NS&I

maisie1234

Hello, I wonder if anyone can assist. I have been granted General POA for my Father. All other institutions have taken my certified copies (from a solicitor and marked accordingly) and I now have access to his accounts apart from NS&I (Premium Bonds). There is cira £40k in the account I believe.


They tell me they expect to see a 60 page document re POA. I told them I cannot believe that everytime people are applying for POA for an elderly relative one needs to send in circa 60 pages!!


No other company has asked me for anything like this.


Is this right? Someone is calling me back but I was told they will only tell me the same thing

Aegis

maisie1234 wrote: »

Hello, I wonder if anyone can assist. I have been granted General POA for my Father. All other institutions have taken my certified copies (from a solicitor and marked accordingly) and I now have access to his accounts apart from NS&I (Premium Bonds). There is cira £40k in the account I believe.


They tell me they expect to see a 60 page document re POA. I told them I cannot believe that everytime people are applying for POA for an elderly relative one needs to send in circa 60 pages!!


No other company has asked me for anything like this.


Is this right? Someone is calling me back but I was told they will only tell me the same thing

The person you spoke to may be confusing general power of attorney with a lasting power of attorney, which is indeed a very long document. When you get a call back, be sure to explain what you have again, and ask them to check their procedures for dealing with powers of attorney that are neither lasting nor enduring.

maisie1234

Thank you. I did ask him whether he knew the difference between Lasting and General (I told him the Lasting was coming) but he wouldn't move from the 60 pages issue. The letter they sent to me said that wasn't the reason it was refused. It was apparently because it hadn't been signed by a solicitor (it had!).


With all this worry its disappointing that a big institution doesn't know what it is doing

alanq

Please confirm that it as a General POA. NS&I says Ordinary is sometimes know as General. Such POs are intended for limited periods for use on behalf of donors who still have capacity.
https://www.nsandi.com/system/files/asset/pdf/power-of-attorney-leaflet.pdf
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/family/looking-after-people/managing-affairs-for-someone-else/#ordinary_power_of_attorney


I had a Lasting POA for my mother and that was just 11 single-sided pages. This was for a simple POA. Obviously one with more restrictions, multiple attorneys etc. could be longer. I cannot however imagine one reaching 60 pages.

maisie1234

I have a GENERAL POA which lasts until my father loses mental capacity. Then hopefully the Lasting POA which is in the process of being drawn up comes in

Malthusian

maisie1234 wrote: »

I have a GENERAL POA which lasts until my father loses mental capacity. Then hopefully the Lasting POA which is in the process of being drawn up comes in

Lasting powers of attorney are effective both before and after the person loses capacity, if they have been registered.

It was the older enduring powers of attorney which only took effect on loss of capacity.

This appears to be a simple case of an institution not reading what you sent them properly, judging by the bit about the solicitor's signature.

With all this worry its disappointing that a big institution doesn't know what it is doing

Par for the course.

maisie1234

The thing is that getting a POA for a parent is upsetting enough without all of this. Why cant we have these institutions training people properly. A few weeks ago I didn't know the difference between LOA and GPOA. Its easy enough - the GPOA can be given immediately providing that the donor has capacity. Lasting is great and far reaching but takes a few months to set up.

maisie1234

I told the agent that if it was found that they were giving me duff info and I needed to go to my solicitor or worse they needed to liaise with NS&I on my behalf that I would be charging them. He was very clear with me that he was right and I was wrong.


I work in business and I know that POA's are common now. I knew when he said they needed a 60 page document that he wasn't correct.

lisyloo

It was the older enduring powers of attorney which only took effect on loss of capacity.

Can you confirm this still IS true.
I have an unregistered EPA which I took out in 2007 when Martin Lewis advised us to do so for free.

xylophone

Can you confirm this still IS true.
I have an unregistered EPA which I took out in 2007 when Martin Lewis advised us to do so for free.

See


https://www.gov.uk/enduring-power-attorney-duties

maisie1234

I knew about EPA. The solicitor advised for speed that I be GPOA as the Lasting POA would take a number of weeks to set up. NS&I are the only institution who are making such a fuss. The agent I spoke to confirmed that they are 'different' to everyone else which is why they needed to see 60 pages!


I am waiting for someone to contact me and will let you know. I might end up getting a PIN without any explanation once someone more experienced sees what has happened. I feel like putting in a letter of complaint around this.