We have been calling for an overhaul of the current Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) process to enable councils to work with their partners locally to ensure people who lack mental capacity are placed at the centre of decisions made about their care.
Key messages
- We have been calling for an overhaul of the current Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) process to enable councils to work with their partners locally to ensure people who lack mental capacity are placed at the centre of decisions made about their care.
- We therefore support the aim of the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill which seeks to create a system which is simpler and less bureaucratic. We look forward to working with Government on the development and implementation of a reformed, fully-funded scheme which ensures there is adequate protection for human rights, including any guidance to support the Act.
- Councils have been working hard to protect the rights of the most vulnerable people since the well-documented increase in responsibilities following the 2014 Supreme Court Judgement. Despite this, local government has continued to prioritise those most in need. Even with an 11 per cent increase in applications from 2015/16 to 2016/17, the number of DoLS applications completed in 2016/17 increased by 45 per cent.