This factsheet explains what mental capacity is, outlines the key principles or rules of the Mental Capacity Act, and looks at how it can be applied when planning for the future. Topics covered include decision-making and mental capacity; the principles of the Mental Capacity Act; assessing capacity; making decisions; planning ahead; and when someone hasn’t planned ahead – deputyship.

This toolkit provides practical guidance to assist doctors in making decisions in the best interests of adults who lack capacity in England and Wales. It sets out an overview of the law; outlines a clear decision-making process to follow; and provides detailed practical advice as to who doctors should consult and the information they need in reaching a decision.

This toolkit acts as a prompt to doctors when they are providing care and treatment for people who lack, or who may lack, the mental capacity to make decisions on their own behalf.

Practice guidance developed to help embed the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) throughout the commissioning process in adult social care. The guidance provides good practice principles which will allow for MCA compliant commissioning, benchmarking and quality assurance with providers. The MCA is built on five guiding principles to ensure a person centred approach to decision making. These principles provide a framework for social care commissioners when commissioning services for people who may be unable to make some, or all decisions, about their care. This guide provides a general overview of the MCA and commissioning MCA compliant services. It then provides a list of areas to question for: each of the five guiding principles of the MCA; Lasting Power of Attorney; Advance decisions to refuse treatment; Independent Mental Capacity Advocate; and for audit and governance. A suggested template for commissioning activity with an MCA focus is also included.

This note has been produced to offer guidance to Councils about when the intervention of the Court of Protection may be needed in relation to welfare decisions where a person lacks mental capacity for the decision. Any decision in relation to an application to Court must be informed by the Mental Capacity Act (MCA), the MCA Code of Practice and case law. This is a short summary and overview and not legal advice, which should always be sought in individual situations.

A brief overview of deprivation of liberty safeguards, looking at what deprivation of liberty means, its practical implications, and how it may affect family members or my friends.

The CQC report on a case where a deprivation of liberty was successfully
challenged.

Brings together all new DoLS forms, which are available to download using the links provided in this page. The forms have been reduced from 32 to 13.

This factsheet looks at the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). These relate to people who lack the mental capacity to make decisions about their care and treatment, and who are deprived of their liberty in a care home or hospital. This factsheet covers what deprivation of liberty means, the required procedure for authorisation, what can be done if there are concerns a deprivation of liberty is unlawful, and the procedures and protections required once someone has been deprived of their liberty.

The purpose of this document is to provide for social workers and those working in front-line clinical settings an overview of the law and principles relating to the assessment of capacity. Its focus is on (a) how to apply the MCA 2005 principles when assessing capacity; and (b) how to record your assessment, primarily in the context of health and welfare decisions. The courts have now considered questions of capacity on many occasions, sometimes giving guidance as to how the Act should be applied in general terms, and sometimes applying the Act to particular factual scenarios. The guide covers: key principles; what it means to lack capacity to make a decision; fluctuating capacity; good capacity assessment and recording; and useful resources.

Final report from the Law Commission’s review of the Mental Capacity and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), which considered how the law should protect people who need to be deprived of their liberty in order to receive care or treatment and lack the capacity to consent. The review found that DoLS were overly technical and legalistic, often failed to achieve any positive outcomes for the person concerned or their family, and could not deal with the increased numbers of people considered to be deprived of their liberty following the Cheshire West ruling. The report provides recommendations for the reform of the legal framework and proposes that the DoLS should be replaced by a new scheme, the Liberty Protection Safeguards. The proposed scheme would cover a broader group of people, including any setting that might give rise to a deprivation of liberty and would also cover 16 and 17-year-olds. A draft Bill attached to the report provides details of the new scheme. The draft Bill also includes amendments to other parts of the Mental Capacity Act to provide increased protection for people whose rights to respect for their private and family life and their home, whether or not they risk being deprived of their liberty. The Law Commission also recommended that the Liberty Protection Safeguards should be accompanied by the publication of a new Code of Practice covering all aspects of the Mental Capacity Act. An impact assessment and a summary of the report are published alongside the final report.

This blog contains information on coronavirus and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 amongst other topics including a a dedicated space for resources on MCA.