End of life care: guide for councils

Councils have a key role to play in helping people to die well and with dignity. This guide sets out how councils in England can play that role. The focus of this guide is adults during the final 12 months of their lives but the general principles also apply to children and young people. End of life care is loosely defined as the last year of life, but accurate predictions are difficult, which makes planning, preparation and embedding good practice important.

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This guide was begun in early 2020 and was nearing completion in March 2020. It has been revised to reflect the new challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 continues to be challenging for councils and their partners. The guide cannot cover all of the implications and issues that the pandemic has raised but seeks to help councils play a leading role in how people in their local areas experience end of life care, including during the pandemic.

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