LPA Fee Exemptions & Reductions: Do You Qualify?

You might not have to pay the £92

The OPG registration fee is £92 per LPA, £184 for both types. It is the only unavoidable cost of making an LPA. Except that for some people it is avoidable too. The OPG waives or halves the fee for people on low incomes or certain benefits, and remarkably few people know to ask.

Who pays nothing

You can claim a full exemption if you receive a qualifying means-tested benefit, which includes:

• Income Support
• Income-based Employment and Support Allowance
• Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
• Guarantee Credit (the means-tested part of Pension Credit)
• Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction

Universal Credit is handled case by case on the claim form rather than as an automatic exemption. The definitive list is in the OPG's LPA120 guidance on GOV.UK. Check it before you claim, because the qualifying benefits change from time to time.

One catch worth knowing: disability benefits such as PIP, DLA and Attendance Allowance do not by themselves qualify you for exemption, because they are not means-tested.

Who pays half

If your gross annual income is under £12,000, you pay £46 per LPA instead of £92. Gross income means before tax: earnings, pensions including the State Pension, most benefits, savings interest and rental income all count. The £12,000 test is judged on the donor's income, not the household's.

How to claim

The claim goes in on a form called the LPA120, submitted together with your LPA application, along with evidence:

• For a benefit exemption: a benefit award letter from the last twelve months showing the qualifying benefit
• For the low-income half fee: recent proof of income such as a P60, tax calculation, pension statements or wage slips

Send clear copies, keep the evidence recent, and claim at the same time as you register. Retrofitting a claim afterwards is harder work.

If you make your LPA with us, the questionnaire asks about benefits and income, and we generate the completed LPA120 for you along with your LPA forms. Your estate planner will also flag it on your check call if your answers suggest you qualify and you have not claimed. There is no charge for any of that — making the LPA, the check call and the LPA120 are all free.

Couples claim separately

Each donor's claim stands on their own circumstances. A couple where one partner is on Guarantee Credit and the other is not would pay £0 for one person's LPAs and the standard fee for the other's. It is worth checking both sets of circumstances properly. On four documents, a full exemption for both of you is £368 kept in your pocket.

The point of all this

The registration fee should never be the reason a household goes unprotected. If money is tight, the combination of a free document and a fee exemption means an LPA can genuinely cost nothing at all. Start yours here, answer the income questions honestly, and the paperwork for the claim is handled for you.