Our role

The Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) 2000 Act gives the Public Guardian the following duties and responsibilities relating to powers of attorney (PoA):

• to register PoAs that meet the registration criteria.
• to maintain a public register of continuing and welfare PoAs.
• to provide advice and guidance to continuing attorneys on the exercise of their powers. However, the advice that we can give is limited as we are not legally qualified. If legal advice or financial advice is required you should consult a solicitor or financial adviser.

We cannot help you to draft your PoA nor do we provide PoA templates/samples as our role is to provide general advice and a registration service.

Please note that we do not provide a checking service pre-registration.

We do not provide legal advice, please see a legal adviser if you are seeking legal advice.

We have no supervisory role in regard to how an attorney performs their role. However, if you have concerns regarding how the continuing (financial) powers are being operated, more information is available in the investigation section of this website.

We do not deal with concerns about the use of welfare or healthcare powers. If you have any concerns regarding welfare related issues, contact the local authority for the area where the granter lives. Alternatively you can contact the Mental Welfare Commission.