planning ahead Scotland
A national movement to protect Scotland’s families through early Power of Attorney conversations
join planning ahead 2027
Help make Power of Attorney part of everyday planning across Scotland.
Planning ahead brings Scotland's legal sector together with The Dementia Trust to help more people have important conversations about Power of Attorney before a crisis makes them urgent.
Following the success of our first campaign in Edinburgh, we are inviting law firms across Scotland to become Planning Ahead 2027 partners.
Join a campaign combining expert-led professional learning, client and community engagement, and meaningful charitable impact.
Become a planning ahead 2027 partner
We are inviting firms of different sizes to take part, from local practices to firms with multiple offices. What matters is a commitment to earlier conversations, thoughtful client support and collective action.
Your firm can help change the way Scotland thinks about Power of Attorney. Register your interest or email sonia@dementiatrust.org and a member of The Dementia Trust team will contact you to discuss the campaign and answer your questions.
Together, we can make planning ahead something more families understand, talk about and act on.
Help Scotland Plan Ahead
Power of Attorney conversations should happen before they become urgent. Together, Scotland’s law firms can help more people plan with confidence and support the work of The Dementia Trust.
Planning Ahead
Planning Ahead is rooted in the Trust’s belief that solicitors are the most trusted professionals to help families take this vital step. Within the first year our aim was to work with firms across Edinburgh, and now we are looking to expand more widely across Scotland to make conversations about Power of Attorney part of everyday planning, not a last resort and one that comes too late in many cases.
Whether you’re a law firm looking to make a meaningful difference, or you’re thinking about starting the process of Power of Attorney for you or someone you know, we’re here to help.
Proven in edinburgh, now we’re taking planning ahead across scotland
The first campaign showed what can happen when law firms come together around a shared purpose.
56%
reported increase in Power of Attorney activity
151
people supported with Power of Attorney
£7000+
raised for The Dementia Trust
4
founding law partners
Blackadders, Balfour+Manson, McDougall McQueen and Ralph Sayer were the founding partners. Figures relate to participating Edinburgh offices during February 2026, the activity increase in compared with available February 2025 data.
More than an awareness campaign
A partnership that creates value for your firm, your clients and your community.
Planning ahead combines professional development with a practical opportunity to help more people plan for the future. Trusted expertise and useful learning are at the heart of the partnership.
The 2026 campaign included dementia and capacity awareness training from Sandra McDonald, former Public Guardian for Scotland, Professor June Andrews.
For 2027, professional learning will remain central to the campaign, with programme details shared with participating firms.
"Planning Ahead is about giving firms the tools, confidence and shared language to start those conversations earlier..."
Sandra McDonald, Former Public Guardian of Scotland
Why become a planning ahead partner?
Give your team opportunities to learn from trusted experts and strengthen conversations with clients around dementia, capacity and planning ahead.
Use the campaign to open timely conversatitn wih existing and prospective clients about Power of Attorney and wider life planning.
Stand alongside other Scottish legal practices working to encourage earlier planning and better understanding in their communities.
Help more people consider their choices while they have the opportunity to make them, while supporting the wider work of The Dementia Trust.
Connect your firm with a Scotland-wide campaign, with opportunities to contribute to partner communication, case studies and relevant media activity.
What does becoming a partner involve?
A straight forward commitment with the potential to make a lasting difference.
Partners take part in Power of Attorney month in February 2027, with activity shaped around their own clients, communities and teams.
Promote the campaign
Use your client communications, website, social channels and local networks to encourage people to understand, discuss and act on Power of Attorney.
Engage your team
Involve your Private Client and marketing colleagues, and make the most of the learning and awareness opportunities developed by partners.
Make it easy to take the next step
Give people a clear route to contact your team, ask questions and arrange an appointment to discuss their circumstances.
Support The Dementia Trust
In 2026, founding firms pledged 10% of their Power of Attorney income during the campaign to The Dementia Trust. We will discuss the 2027 contribution and reporting arrangements with your firm before you commit.
What your firm receives
A genuine partnership, not simply a fundraising ask.
Planning Ahead 2027 is being developed around the support that mattered most to our first partners, helping your team participate with confidence and purpose.
Expert learning
Professional education modules and practical insight around Power of Attorney, dementia, capacity and the conversations legal professionals have with clients and families.
Campaign resources
Partner messaging, digital assets and materials to support your client communications and make participation straightforward for your team.
Partner recognition
Recognition as a Planning Ahead partner through the campaign’s website and communications, helping clients and communities understand your involvement.
PR and thought leadership opportunities
Opportunities to contribute to relevant campaign stories, case studies and media activity. Individual opportunities will depend on editorial interest and the wider campaign programme.
A Scotland-wide network
Join a collaborative group of firms committed to encouraging earlier conversations and helping more people plan ahead.
Measurable impact
A shared account of campaign activity and results, recognising the contribution of participating firms and the difference achieved together.
Why this matters
Planning Ahead is about making Power of Attorney a normal part of planning for the future, rather than a conversation left until circumstances become urgent.
A person must have the capacity to understand what they are doing when granting a Power of Attorney. That makes early conversations important, giving people time to consider who they trust, what matters to them and the powers they wish to grant.
Our ambition is to make conversations about Power of Attorney as familiar as conversations about wills, pensions and other important life planning. Scotland’s legal professional has a central role to play.
A Scotland where no family faces crisis alone - because everyone has the power to choose, even when life changes unexpectedly.
OUR Vision
To work alongside solicitors, partners and families to transform how Scotland prepares for the future. Ensuring no one loses control simply because the conversation wasn’t had in time. The Planning Ahead campaign encourages people of all ages and stages of life to plan ahead for the care they may need in the future.
OUR MISSION
“The phrase I hear most from families in crisis: ‘I wish we’d had Power of Attorney”
Sandra McDonald
Useful organisations
Office of the Public Guardian (England and Wales)
PO Box 16185
Birmingham
B22WH
Telephone: 0300 466 0300
Office of Care and Protection (Northern Ireland)
Room 2.2A
Second Floor
Royal Courts of Justice
Chichester Street
Belfast
BTI3IF
Telephone: 0300 200 7812
Email: OCP@courtsni.gov.uk
Office of the Public Guardian (Scotland)
Hadrian House
Callendar Business Park
Callendar Road
Falkirk
FK1 1XR
Telephone; 01324 678398
Email: OPG@scotcourts.gov.uk
https://www.publicguardian-scotland.gov.uk/general/contact-us
-
British Medical Association
www.bma.org.uk
telephone: 020 7387 4499
British Psychological Society
www.bps.org.uk
Telephone: 0116 254 9568
Mental Welfare Commission (Scotland)
www.mwcscot.org.uk
Advice line: 0800 389 6809 -
The independent bodies responsible for monitoring and inspecting the availability and quality of care home services and encouraging improvements in the quality of those services.
Care Quality Commission (England)
Telephone: 03000 616161
Email: enquiries@cqc.org.uk
Care Inspectorate (Scotland)
enquiries@careinspectorate.gov.scot.
0345 600 9527
Care Inspectorate Wales
www.careinspectorate.wales
Helpline: 0300 7900 126
Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority
www.rgia.org.uk
Contact: 028 9536 1111 -
Department of Work and Pensions
www.gov.uk/contact-jobcentre-plus
Find your local council: www.gov.uk/find-local-council
All government departments for England and Wales
www.gov.uk
Adult incapacity government site in Scotland
www.gov.scot/collections/adults-with-incapacity
forms-and-guidance/
For PoA information in Northern Ireland
www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/managing your affairs-and
enduring power attorney -
Family Mediation Council (England and Wales)
www.familymediationcouncil.org.uk
Telephone: 01707 394055
Scottish Mediation
www.scottishmediation.org.uk
Helpline: 0131 556 8118 -
To find a solicitor
Law Society of Scotland
www.lawscot.org.uk
Law Society of Northern Ireland
www.lawsoc-ni.org -
Age UK
www.ageuk.org.uk
Advice line: 0800 055 6112
Age Scotland
www.ageuk.org.uk/scotland
0800 12 44 222
Age Wales
www.ageuk.org.uk/cymru
08000 223 444
Age Northern Ireland
www.ageuk.org.uk/northern-ireland
0808 808 7575
Alcohol Related Brain Damage
www.arbdcare.co.uk
01934 422 822
Alzheimer’s Society
www.alzheimers.org.uk
Support line: 0333 150 3456
(This is the same web address and support line for Wales and
Northern Ireland.)
Alzheimer Scotland
www.alzscot.org
Helpline: 0808 808 3000
Carers UK
www.carersuk.org
Contact their helpline by filling in the form which is on this
website.
Citizens Advice Bureau
www.citizensadvice.org.uk
You will be directed from this home page to CABs in your
nation and from there you can find a local service.
Headway
For support with traumatic brain injury
www.headway.org.uk
Telephone: 08088002244
Lewy Body Society
For information on Lewy Body dementia
www.lewybody.org
Information line: 01942 914000
Helpline: 0800 888 6678 (manned by Admiral Nurses)
Mind
Support with learning disability and mental health
www.mind.org.uk
Support line: 0208 215 2243
Stroke Association
www.stroke.org.uk
Stroke Helpline: 0303 3033 I00
Supporter Care: 0300 3300 740
We Are Hourglass
Dedicated to calling time on the harm and abuse of older
people
wearehourglass.org
From here you will get links to We Are Hourglass in Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland
Helpline: 0808 808 8141
Why Power of Attorney mATTERS
Behind every statistic is a family trying to
hold things together.
Most people don’t put a Power of Attorney in place, not because they don’t care, because life is busy. Because capacity feels like something that belongs to later. Because we all assume there will be time.
But when capacity changes without a POA,
families cannot make medical or financial decisions
bank accounts freeze
care decisions stall
guardianship becomes costly, stressful and slow
people lose the dignity of having their choices upheld
Solicitors know this reality better than anyone. They see the emotional, legal and financial impact every time a client reaches crisis without protection.
Planning Ahead is about changing the narrative to that story.
Take the lead
Look after your loved ones and plan ahead
The Dementia Trust is asking Scotland’s families to act early and put Power of Attorney protection in place before it's Too late.
Join in our ‘Power of Attorney Month’ February 2027 by booking an appointment with one of our Partner law firms.
Too frequently we hear from relatives who say their loved one always intended to make a power-of-attorney but never got round to it. Things then become much more complicated and people have to go to court to apply for the court’s approval to manage things at a time which may already be traumatic for other reasons.
Watch and hear how power of attorney can impact families and loved ones when they need care most in our short film, The Power of ‘Power of Attorney’.
THE POWER OF ‘Power of ATTORNEY’
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