Manage your signatories

What do we mean by 'Power of Attorney'?

A Power of Attorney gives legal power to one or more persons to help you make decisions or make decisions on your behalf. The people you give permission to manage your accounts are called “attorneys” and are legally authorised to manage your finances.

Power of Attorneys can be set up on a temporary basis (for instance if you are in hospital) or in the longer term (perhaps if you become ill and can no longer make decisions).

There are different types of 'Power of Attorney':

1. Lasting Power of Attorney
2. Enduring Power of Attorney
3. General or Specific Power of Attorney
4. Continuing Power of Attorney (Scotland)

Once you’ve been granted a Power of Attorney you can apply to be added to an account by completing our online process. 

When submitting through our Online process:

To verify your photo ID: We will need a selfie photograph from the person who is requesting Power Of Attorney over the account, not the account holder. The photo must be from the front and side profile. You will need to attach this with the online form and doucmentation below. 

If you are requesting Power of Attorney over a persons account and you are a Royal bank of Scotland customer: You will only need to send in one form of photo identification and a photo of the original Power of Attorney confirmation document. (including any relevant Certificates of Registration from the Office of Public Guardian the “OPG”)

If you are requesting Power of Attorney over a persons account and you are not a Royal Bank of Scotland customer: You will need to send in two forms of identification one being photo identification and one being your proof of your address. As well as a photo of the original Power of Attorney confirmation document. (including any relevant Certificates of Registration from the Office of Public Guardian the “OPG”)

Please note: If you are requesting more than one Power of Attorney on a single account. You will not be able to use our online service at this time.

What do we mean by 'Court of Protection/Scottish Financial Guardianship orders?' orders?

If there is no Power of Attorney in place and you need to manage an incapable adult’s wider financial affairs and/or make decisions about their personal welfare an application can be made to the Court of Protection (for Court of Protection orders) or to a Sheriff in Scotland (for Financial Guardianship orders) so you can be appointed as a Deputy or Guardian to manage the incapacitated adult’s relevant affairs. A Financial Guardianship Order can only be accepted once it’s been granted by the Sheriff and registered with the Office of the Public Guardian in Scotland (the “OPG”).  The Court or Sherriff decide the appropriateness of granting an order and if the person nominated is suitable. Once appointed, Deputies or Guardians are supervised in their role:

• For financial and property matters – by the Office of the Public Guardian
• For personal welfare matters – by the local authority in the area where the incapable adult lives.

If you think a Court of Protection Order or a Scottish Financial Guardianship Order is appropriate, you may want to seek independent legal advice or contact the Citizens Advice Bureau.

Once you’ve been appointed as a Deputy or Guardian you can apply to be added to an account by completing our online process. 

When submitting through our online process:

To verify your photo ID: We will need a selfie photograph from the person who is requesting to be the Court of Protection deputy, not the account holder. The photo must be from the front and side profile. You will need to attach this with the online form and doucmentation below. 

If you are requesting Court of Protection over a persons account and you are a Royal Bank of Scotland customer: You will only need to send in one form of photo identification and a photo of the original Court of Protection confirmation document. (including for a Financial Guardianship Order the Certificate of Registration from the OPG).

If you are requesting Court of Protection over a persons account and you are not a Royal Bank of Scotland customer: you will need to send in two forms of identification one being photo identification and one being your proof of your address. As well as a photo of the original Court of Protection confirmation document. (including for a Financial Guardianship Order the Certificate of Registration from the OPG). 

Please note: If you want to appoint more than one Deputy or Guardian to a single account. You will not be able to use our online service at this time.

The types of identification we can accept through our online process are:

• A valid and in date passport             
• Other Bank Statement
• Full UK Driving Licence
• Council Tax Bill
• EU/EAA National ID Card 
• Utility Bill/ statement (Utility bills must be within the last 3-6 months)
• EU/EAA Driving Licence               
• Mortgage Statement / Solicitor Mortgage correspondence
• Biometric Residence Permit       
• Local Council / Housing Authority Tenancy Agreement
• Military ID Card               
• Credit Union statement
• Notice of Tax Coding
  
• National Insurance Confirmation Letter

The selfie images need to be sent as an attachment to the email. They should not be sent within the body of the email.

The types of file formats accepted are:

• PNG 
• JPEG 
• PDF

However if you are looking to add a Power of Attorney or Court of Protection/Scottish Financial Guardianship requests only PDF format will be accepted.

The only types of requests we can process online if you have a packaged account with us are:

• 3^rd party requests
• Power Of Attorney
• Court Of Protection.

Unfortunately, our online processes only apply to UK residents.