Professional legal delegates provide valuable support to a portfolio of clients and when there is a change in personnel, it is important that all relevant parties are informed in a timely manner.

Regrettably, often the first notification a financial services firm receives that there has been a change in the professional legal delegate for a particular customer, is when the new legal delegate requests to undertake a transaction which cannot be carried out as there is no record of them having authority to act on their client’s behalf.

 

To improve outcomes for consumers, UK Finance has developed a protocol and accompanying form to be used by both financial services firms and local authorities/other professional organisations in scenarios where the individual acting as a professional legal delegate for a client(s) changes.​

 

Timely implementation of a consistent process across the professional legal delegate and financial services sectors will deliver the following benefits:​

 

The protocol outlines a step-by-step process which will be effective from 6 April 2026.

 

Our thanks go to our members and the following professional bodies who have supported the development of this new process: