Where to find practical guidance on what to do as LPA?

[GreatBigBoots]

Does anyone know of any practical guides for what someone appointed as finance Attorney (under and LPA) for an elderly parent should (and shouldn't) do? Ideally something that covers things like examples of what sort of records to keep and what sort of things would (and wouldn't) be acceptable as expenses in the interests of the elderly parent? I have found plenty of guidance on setting up LPA, but very little on specifically what to do once you are an attorney

Mum has dementia (but currently has capacity to make LPA) and Brother wants to be LPA but does not seem to have any understanding of what a serious undertaking this is and tells me that someone he knows who has LPA has told him that there is no need for keeping records etc. I think if I could provide him with some official or independent guidance to read he might take it more seriously or reconsider whether it's the right thing for him.
Family dynamics are fairly complicated so Mum won't appoint anyone unless it's either Brother, or someone Brother agrees should have the role. I am the only other person who could realistically take it on, and I know that Mum would be happy with that if Brother agreed (I have been helping her with admin and finances for several years already). I have no great desire to take on the role of LPA but fear that unless Brother gets a better understanding of the role and can be persuaded to keep her finances separate from his own, and properly recorded, things will end up in a mess if he takes this on.

This age Uk has some information
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/legal-issues/power-of-attorney/#choose
it includes information about out of pocket expenses and keeping records. How decisions are made by the Attourney.

this also has some useful advice https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-to-be-an-attorney/how-to-be-an-attorney-property-and-financial-decisions

I'm lpa for my dad and to all his online banking. He has capacity but at 94 he can't cope with the online stuff.
I have a spreadsheet on my computer and record every transaction I make for him

This week
Monday Cleaner £25
Wednesday Sainsbury's online shop £56
Thursday: podiatrist £30
Plumber to replace radiator valve £15
Friday Specsavers - glasses £240

Every now and again I move excess funds into a savings account and note that transaction too
Birthdays- he asks me to "give the usual" so I set up the transfers for this. Should he lose capacity I could keep these payments going as it's been going for several years.
It's about 20 minutes a week I spend doing the spread sheet. The worst thing is going to be his tax return. I have registered the poa with HMRC and it's next week's job!

Just have meticulous records. The only place he ever goes out to is a cafe about 10 minutes walk away and he uses his card for this but the cafe know where I am so would contact me if his card needed a PIN as he can't remember his!

Thank you @Ritaskitchen and @Musicaltheatremum . Those links are very useful and the spreadsheet approach is exactly what I am already keeping for Mum, to help keep on track of her finances now that she needs help.

Chat GPT has been pretty good at handholding us through it so far.

What are your concerns about your brother not doing it properly? The part of your post that concerns me is that your brother would need to ‘be persuaded to keep his finances separate from hers’… do you think he will try to spend her money for his own benefit?

If you continue to actually manage her accounts, you will see all the transactions relating to her money. If you suspect something is amiss will you be able to confront your brother? Of course, if he becomes LPA and your mother loses capacity, he will be able to remove your access to her accounts.