Timing and control. An LPA is made in advance, while you have mental capacity, and you choose who acts for you. A deputyship happens after capacity is lost, when it is too late for an LPA: someone applies to the Court of Protection to be appointed your deputy, and the court decides who.
The practical differences are stark. An LPA costs £92 per document to register and takes about two months. A deputyship application costs £432, needs a formal capacity assessment, typically takes four to six months, and then carries annual supervision fees, an insurance bond, and yearly reporting to the court for as long as it lasts. Health and welfare deputyships are granted only rarely, so the medical authority an LPA gives may simply never be available. Every deputyship is the story of an LPA that was not made in time.
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