Making decisions for another person

Use this guide to help you find more information on making important decisions for another person.

If you want someone else to make decisions for you

Power of attorney

Granting power of attorney gives someone permission to make certain decisions around finance or welfare on your behalf.

To grant someone power of attorney, you must be able to make decisions under the Mental Capacity Act.

There are two different types of lasting power of attorney that can be granted:

  • Health and welfare lasting power of attorney – this gives someone the authority to make decisions about your health and welfare, such as what medical care you receive. A health and welfare lasting power of attorney can only make decisions for you if you lack the mental capacity to make them yourself.  They can make decisions as soon as they are registered as the attorney.
  • Property and financial affairs lasting power of attorney – this gives someone the authority to make decisions about your property and finances, such as what benefits you claim. They can make decisions as soon as they are registered as the attorney.

If you don't have a deputy or power of attorney in place, then decisions around your welfare may have to go to the Court of Protection. However, issues that go to the Court of Protection can take a while to resolve, and this can delay decisions around your care.

Help to decide whether someone has the ability to make decisions for themselves can be be provided by the Court of Protection. This helps protect peoples’ rights as well as vulnerable people if their care needs are not being met.

If someone is deemed as unable to make decisions for themselves, then the Court of Protection will make the decision for them with their best interests in mind.

Making decisions for vulnerable parents

If you have vulnerable parents who need care, but you and other family members disagree on the type of care you'd like for them, we'll attempt to arrange care in the way that they want it if they are eligible for support from us.

If your parents don't have the capacity to make decisions for themselves, we'll complete an assessment of capacity and arrange for a best interests decision to be made. We'll work with and consider the views of all relevant parties when making the best interests decision.

For more information about best interest decisions, visit the Citizen's Advice website.