Around 300,000 Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) applications are reportedly made each year. Conversely, it appears that only a token proportion of these applications are done using the Government’s new flagship online application process. The digital version was launched in May 2014 with the aim of consolidating the LPA application process into a simpler step-by-step formulaic process. It has been designed to ensure applications are completed correctly before they are subsequently printed off, signed and submitted.
However, in December 2014 only around 18% of all LPA applicants used the online service. Furthermore, between the 16th and 22nd February 2015, less than 29% of users completed the application they initially began making online. It seems very unlikely these figures are reaching the levels the Government would have hoped for nine months after the service initially launched, despite their belief that the service is in its early stages and that traffic will pick up. They affirm that the system is constantly being ‘improved and expanded’.
The system was introduced, in no small part, because of the Office of the Public Guardian’s belief that the present paper based LPA applications are out of date and inefficient. Is this a judgment you would agree with? The online platform aims to provide a quicker and simpler alternative in a bid to stamp out the number of mistakes made in the paper application. The current system also aims to still retain all the necessary key safeguards, while pushing forward the application process into the modern era.
In fact the government were so confident in their digital creation, original plans intended for the system were to be so comprehensive and all-encompassing that the paper system could be discontinued. This announcement, however, proved to be controversial. An online based legal system, it was argued, gave greater scope for fraud and financial abuse. It would also not be suitable for elderly and other vulnerable persons. The government subsequently backed down on this decision and these plans have since been put on hold. Whether they have any plans to try and remove the paper version again at some point in the future remains to be seen. Although it would appear scrapping these plans was for the better given the new digital applications apparent unpopularity.
On a more positive note for the scheme, user satisfaction levels for those who have chosen to use the digital format are currently hovering just below 90%. This is a percentage which is fairly agreeable for a scheme still in its infant stages.
It can also be argued that the scheme was designed with good intentions, through encouraging more people to apply for an LPA by making the process quicker, easier and more accessible. Thus allowing more citizens to decide for themselves who would make their decisions for them if they lost capacity. It should also free up the Court of Protections workload, decreasing delays, as they wouldn’t be required to step in and appoint somebody if an LPA wasn’t in place.
What are your thoughts? Do you believe that this scheme merely seems to be a waste of time and resources? Or is it a system with strong foundations that will only improve and become more popular in the future?
