NS&I cashed in a £240,000 cheque sent on behalf of my 97-year-old father – but then wouldn’t accept Power of Attorney documents…

I have Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) for my elderly father, who is in a care home. 

My father’s house was sold in mid-July 2023 and I wanted to invest the proceeds in National Savings & Investments (NS&I) Guaranteed Income Bonds to pay for his care home fees.

I phoned NS&I and was told an application form would be sent. We discussed the EPA and the adviser told me I could send a copy of the document, signed and witnessed by a reputable person.

A letter arrived several days later stating that the forms were enclosed, but they weren’t. So I called the helpline and was told I could print them off online.

Confusion: Conflicting information was given about what was needed for the Power of Attorney document to open Guaranteed Income Bonds on behalf of his father (stock image)

On a closer inspection, the forms stated that a copy of a Power of Attorney document, which has replaced EPA, had to be signed with very precise wording on each page, by a solicitor or the beneficiary, i.e. my father. Otherwise, the original would have to be sent to NS&I.

My father is 97, virtually blind and only able to write his signature – so he would have been incapable of writing the required wording on several pages.

So reluctantly I sent the original EPA document on 24 July, requesting that it be returned swiftly.

Hearing nothing from NS&I, I rang to check on the progress and was told that NS&I had not opened the application letter yet.

On August 7, the Power of Attorney document was posted back to me with a letter saying that it was incomplete, needed to be signed on each page, and sent to NS&I before they would proceed.

As I sent the original document, I have no idea what more to do or how to progress the application.

What’s more, on checking my father’s bank account, I discovered that NS&I took £240,000 from the account on 26th July – the day after they received the application.

When I phoned the helpline I was told that NS&I was unable to track down the application and the adviser was unable to find out why the Power of Attorney wasn’t accepted. Please can you help? Via email

Helen Kirrane of This is Money replies: It sounds like you have received conflicting information at all stages of this process.

You have EPA for your father, allowing you to manage his financial affairs as he became unable to do so.

EPA was replaced by Lasting Power of Attorney in 2007 in England and Wales. But if you made and signed an EPA before October 1, 2007, it should still be valid.

NS&I allows you to register to manage someone’s NS&I savings on their behalf if you have EPA over them.

So I asked NS&I what was happening with the application to open up Guaranteed Income Bonds for your father. 

NS&I told me: ‘A letter was sent to Mr B dated July 27, saying that there was an issue with the Power of Attorney.’

But this included no information as to what the exact problem with the document was.

Following this you contacted the NS&I call centre several times, but you were given conflicting information

The main issue, which was not communicated to you, was that part of the Power of Attorney document was missing – this was why NS&I was unable to accept it in the first instance.

On another review of the document, it was decided that it could be accepted but only with you as the attorney able to act on the account in the name of your father.

NS&I could have been a lot clearer about what the problem actually was and what you needed to do.

You told me that you had never before had the responsibility of sending almost a quarter of a million pounds for investment and have never before been so worried about what is happening with your father’s money.

It must have been distressing and confusing, then, that NS&I cashed the cheque of £240,000 pounds while saying that the application could not progress – as there was a problem with the EPA.

At the time you contacted me, NS&I had been holding your father’s money for three weeks – time in which you assumed the money would be in the account and gaining interest at a rate of £250 per week.

An NS&I spokesman adds: We are sorry for the level of service Mr B received when recently trying to open an account on behalf of his father.

This has fallen below our usual standards and, in recognition of this, an apology payment of £150 has been issued. The investment in Guaranteed Income Bonds has been backdated to July 27 and will earn interest from this point.

The Income Bonds account has now been opened, and the sale will be backdated to July 27 with no loss of interest.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk