What happens if an LPA is rejected?

If the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) finds a mistake, it can’t register the LPA, and nobody can use it until the mistake is put right. In almost every case, that means making a new LPA, with everyone signing again. Here’s what happens, what it costs, what to do, and how to avoid it in the first place.

Checked by Steve Ryan, founder
October 2026

What happens when an LPA is rejected

Before it registers an LPA, the OPG checks that it’s legally correct, that it has no mistakes, and that anyone told about it has had the chance to object. If something’s wrong, the OPG writes to explain the problem and what you can do.

It happens more often than most people expect. Office of the Public Guardian figures, released to Hargreaves Lansdown under the Freedom of Information Act, show that 48,945 LPA applications were rejected in 2024/25.

What happens next depends on the mistake:

Most mistakes mean making the LPA again: Once a signed LPA has been sent, a mistake in it can’t be corrected. The OPG returns it, and you make a new LPA, with everyone signing again in the right order. If you send the new one within 3 months of the old one being returned, the OPG charges £46 instead of the full £92. The person making the LPA must still have the mental capacity to sign a new one.
An instruction that can’t legally work: If the LPA includes an instruction that’s unlawful, the Court of Protection has to remove it before the LPA can be registered. The OPG says this significantly delays registration.

Whichever it is, it adds weeks, and sometimes months, before anyone can use the LPA.

The most common reasons LPAs are rejected

These are the mistakes the OPG warns about most. Nearly all of them are easy to avoid once you know about them.

Signing in the wrong order. The person making the LPA signs first, then the certificate provider, then the attorneys, and last whoever applies to register it. Everyone dates their signature on the day they sign, so the dates must follow the same order. How to sign your LPA
The wrong witness. An attorney can’t witness the signature of the person making the LPA, and that person can’t witness an attorney’s. Every witness must be 18 or over and give their full name and address.
A certificate provider who isn’t allowed to act. They must be impartial, so a family member, an attorney or the person’s employee won’t be accepted. Who can be a certificate provider
Mistakes on the life-sustaining treatment page. In a health and welfare LPA, the person making it must choose option A or option B and sign only one, with a witness. The OPG says errors on this page can mean making a new LPA and paying again.
Missing or mixed-up pages. The OPG needs every page, numbered 1 to 20, including pages left blank. Mixing pages from a property and finance LPA with a health and welfare one can mean starting again.
Correction fluid, stickers or pencil. The OPG can’t register an LPA with correction fluid or stickers on it. That includes ‘Sign here’ flags: if your LPA came with them, peel them all off before you post it. To correct a mistake before you send the LPA, cross it out, write the correction next to it, and have the person who made it write their initials beside it. Use a black or blue pen throughout.
Wrong names, dates of birth or addresses. Use everyone’s full name as it appears on their identity documents, not initials, and write dates of birth as DD/MM/YYYY.
Instructions that don’t work. Badly worded or contradictory instructions can make an LPA unworkable. They must also suit the type of LPA, so you can’t put instructions about money in a health and welfare LPA.
Printing problems. If you print the forms yourself, every word must be on the right page, with nothing running onto the next one.

What Steve sees most often: “When I review LPAs, the mistakes I come across most often are pages that haven’t been witnessed, signing and witnessing some pages but leaving others blank, and errors with dates, such as accidentally writing a date of birth instead of the date of signing.”

What to do if your LPA has been rejected

Read the OPG’s letter carefully. It says what’s wrong and what to do next. Keep it, because you’ll need its details when you apply again.
Don’t try to amend the returned LPA. A mistake in a signed LPA can’t be corrected, so a new one has to be made and signed again. If you’re not sure what the letter means, call the OPG on 0300 456 0300.
Send the new LPA within 3 months. If it reaches the OPG within 3 months of the old one being returned, it costs £46 rather than the full £92.
Don’t wait if health is a worry. A new LPA can only be made while the person making it has mental capacity. If they lose capacity first, their family may have to apply to the Court of Protection, which is slow and costs far more. What happens without an LPA
If a professional prepared it, contact them first. Ask what their guarantee covers before you pay anything again.

If you made your LPA with yourLPA

Our rejection guarantee comes with every order:

If the OPG rejects your LPA because of our mistake, we correct it and send new documents free of charge, and refund any extra OPG fee you have to pay.
If it’s rejected for another reason, such as a signing or witnessing slip, we explain what to do and send you one replacement set of documents free of charge. Any further OPG fee is yours to pay.

Better still is catching a mistake before the OPG does. That’s why Steve Ryan checks every answer before your LPA is printed, and why you can email us photos of the signed pages to check, free, before you post them. Read our terms.

Over 99% registered first time. That’s Steve Ryan’s record across the LPAs he has prepared for clients.

Sources

Checked by Steve Ryan, founder of yourLPA and a member of the Society of Will Writers, against the Office of the Public Guardian’s guidance in October 2026. This guide is general information for people in England and Wales, not personal advice.