Guidance

OPG privacy notice: lasting and enduring powers of attorney

Updated 14 January 2026

Applies to England and Wales

© Crown copyright 2026

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/opg-privacy-notice-lasting-and-enduring-powers-of-attorney/office-of-the-public-guardian-lasting-and-enduring-powers-of-attorney-privacy-notice

This privacy notice sets out the standards that you can expect from the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG):

  • when we request or hold personal information (‘personal data’) about you
  • how you can get access to a copy of your personal data
  • what you can do if you think the standards are not being met

OPG is an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

MoJ is the data controller for the personal information we collect.

OPG collects and processes personal data for the exercise of its own and associated public functions. These include the registration of enduring powers of attorney  (EPA) and lasting powers of attorney (LPA) and to keep a register of powers of attorney.

About personal data

Personal data is information about you as an individual. It can be your name, address or telephone number. It can also include information about any finances or assets you wish your attorney to manage, or medical conditions you might have and wishes in regards to future medical treatment. We may also receive health or mental capacity information if concerns are raised about how an attorney is acting.

We know how important it is to protect customers’ privacy and to comply with data protection laws. We will safeguard your personal data and will only disclose it where it is lawful to do so, or with your consent. This applies to the donor of an EPA or LPA, attorney or any third parties.

Types of personal data we process

We only process personal data that is relevant for the services we are providing to you. This may include:

  • your name and address
  • your date of birth
  • the name, address and date of birth of your attorneys
  • recording of telephone calls to our contact centre
  • your computer’s Internet Protocol (IP) address when using our online services
  • financial information (for fee payments/remissions)

It can also include information about your:

  • health
  • mental capacity
  • online identity, for example, an email address

The information is processed so that OPG may carry out its lawful duties as set out in section 58 of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005.

The MCA states that the Public Guardian must, among other duties:

  • establish and maintain a register of lasting powers of attorney
  • receive and review reports from donees of lasting powers of attorney
  • deal with representations about the way an attorney is exercising their powers

To do this, we may examine and take copies of:

  • health records
  • records held by a local authority
  • any records held by a person registered under the Care Standards Act 2000

When processing data we must comply with the following legal bases: 

  • UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Article 6(1)(e) – Public task
  • Special category data: substantial public interest (Schedule 1 DPA 2018)

Failure to comply with the reasonable directions or requests of OPG in the exercise of these functions may result in an application for the removal of the attorney.

When an application for remission or exemption of fees is made, the information provided and supporting evidence will only be used for the purpose of the application to ensure that a correct fee is charged.

Sharing information

We sometimes need to share the personal information we process with the individual whose data it is and also with other organisations. Where this is necessary we will comply with all aspects of data protection laws.

The organisations we may share your personal information with include:

This list is not exhaustive and any decision to share information will be made on a case-by-case basis.

We also share data with organisations who provide secure IT, payment and case management services on behalf of the MoJ .

Although we make every attempt to protect your rights, under certain circumstances we have a legal duty to share your information, even if you do not consent. This might include prevention or detection of crime, interests of counter-terrorism, and safeguarding responsibilities including child protection.

Office of the Public Guardian registers

When OPG has registered an EPA or LPA we will add the details of the donor and attorneys to the registers.

Anyone can apply to search the OPG registers, as long as they can provide certain details about the person they want to search for.

Find out more about the Office of the Public Guardian registers.

Not all the information we hold about a person is on the registers. We can disclose additional information only when the request for it is reasonable and justified and where the law says we can.

Transfer of personal data overseas

Personal data is transferred to the Republic of Ireland for the purpose of hosting our primary case management system and hosting the data held on the MoJ Analytical Platform. These international transfers comply with UK data protection law.

How long we keep personal data

We will keep personal data only for as long as:

  • we need it to carry out the services we provide to you
  • the law requires us to

OPG  publishes a record retention disposition schedule (RRDS), which shows how long different types of information are kept. At the end of this period your data is disposed of. Data held on the MoJ Analytical Platform is retained for 20 years.

Access to personal data

You can find out if we hold any personal data about you by making a subject access request. 

To request details of personal data we hold, please send your request to:

Information Governance and Data Protection
Ministry of Justice
Post point 10.38
10th Floor
102 Petty France
London, SW1H 9AJ

You can also make your Subject Access Request via our online service:

Request personal information from the Ministry of Justice - GOV.UK

You can find more information about your rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) or in our personal information charter. 

Use  of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the theory and development of digital technology to be able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence. This includes the creation or use of large language models and machine learning.

OPG uses AI and other automated technologies to help improve the efficiency of some of our processes. AI tools may be used to support activities such as data analysis, quality assurance, and generating or updating guidance materials. Any use of AI is carefully assessed to ensure it complies with data protection law, aligns with OPG’s statutory functions, and does not make decisions that have a direct effect on individuals without appropriate human review. The use of AI is continually monitored and governed in line with MoJ policies, ensuring your personal data remains protected and used fairly, transparently and lawfully.

When we ask you for personal data

We promise:

  • to inform you why we need your personal data and ask only for the personal data we need
  • not to collect information that is irrelevant or excessive
  • to protect your personal data and make sure no unauthorised person has access to it
  • only to share your data with other organisations for legitimate purposes where appropriate and necessary
  • to make sure we don’t keep it longer than is necessary
  • to consider your request to correct, stop processing or erase your personal data

You can get more details on:

  • agreements we have with other organisations for sharing information
  • circumstances where we can pass on personal information without telling you, for example, to help with the prevention or detection of crime or to produce anonymised statistics
  • how we check that the information we hold is accurate and up to date
  • how to make a complaint
  • how to contact the MoJ Data Protection Officer

For more information about these topics, please contact:

OPG information Assurance
PO Box 16185
Birmingham
B2 2WH

OPGInformationAssurance@publicguardian.gov.uk

For more information on how and why your information is processed please see the information provided when you accessed our services or were contacted by us.

Data Protection Officer

If you have any concerns about how OPG is handling your personal data, you may contact the Data Protection Officer (DPO).

The DPO provides independent advice and monitoring of our use of personal information.

You can contact the Data Protection Officer at:

MoJ Data Protection Officer
Post point 10.38
102 Petty France
London
SW1H 9AJ

DataProtection@justice.gov.uk

Complaints

When we ask you for information, we will keep to the law. If you consider that your information has been handled incorrectly, you can contact the Information Commissioner for independent advice about data protection.

Contact the Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Website: www.ico.org.uk

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