Is it the end of the Liberty Protection Safeguards?

On 5th April 2023, The Government announced that the long awaited (and long overdue) Liberty Protection Safeguards would be delayed further.  In a letter to stakeholders, they said, “Yesterday you will have seen the Government has set out its plans for adult social care reform in its publication of the Next steps to put People at the Heart of Care. To enable us to focus on these critical priorities, the Government has taken the difficult decision to delay the implementation of the Liberty Protection Safeguards beyond the life of this Parliament.”

The Liberty Protection Safeguards were introduced through the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 in an attempt to rectify the issues that have plagued the current Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) system since the Cheshire West case increased the number of people subject to DoLS beyond that which could be managed by local authorities.  Consequently, tens of thousands of people every year are subject to arrangements in care homes and hospitals that might amount to a deprivation of liberty, and therefore a breach of their Article 5 rights (European Convention on Human Rights) but are not provided with the protection that they are entitled to.  Of particular concern is that there are no systems in place for this group of people to object to the arrangements and have their case heard before a Judge.

Through the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act, plans were afoot to introduce a range of measures that would replace the current DoLS system with a workable solution that could cope with the number of people that are deprived of their liberty and clear the current backlog of DoLS applications.  Further details of the measures that would change under the LPS can be found on our Liberty Protection Safeguards page.

At Simply Social Work we have followed the developments of the LPS with interest because Gary and Neil are both Best Interests Assessors and both believe that the LPS system (although not the same system that the Law Commission Recommended) would have strengthened the rights of people deprived of their liberty in a range of settings (not just care homes and hospitals) and the introduction of the role of Approved Mental Capacity Professional would have been a welcome addition, ensuring that those undertaking mental capacity assessments (or reviewing the arrangements) were professionals with extensive training.

At Simply Social Work, we will continue to provide Deprivation of Liberty assessments where instructed and (equally important) will continue to provide professional reports to those who wish to challenge a decision to deprive them of their liberty.