Case summary: KD v A Borough Council & Ors [2015] UKUT 0251 (AAC)

This case concerns guardianship and DoLS. KD had Korsakov’s Syndrome and, following his detention under the Mental Health Act 1983, had been subject to guardianship since 2012. Before the First Tier Tribunal (Mental Health) (‘the FFT’), he sought to be discharged from the guardianship order on the basis that it was not necessary because an authorisation under Schedule A1 to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (‘MCA 2005’) was less restrictive and guardianship could not authorise his deprivation of liberty. In this case, the guardianship order was not discharged. There was no firm proposal for where KD would live. The court decided that the prospect of an alternative placement being made available was not sufficient to found a discharge. However, it was open to KD to make a new application to the FTT supported by the appropriate evidence to have the guardianship order discharged.