Deprivation of liberty

FORTHCOMING CHANGE: The Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 received Royal Assent on 16 May 2019. This Act amends the Mental Capacity Act 2005, replacing the current Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards with a new system, known as the ‘Liberty Protection Safeguards’ (LPS). This new system aims to reduce the burden on local authorities when seeking an order to confine an incapacitated person to a hospital or care home. The Department of Health and Social Care and the Ministry of Justice launched a consultation on 17 March 2022 seeking views on the proposed changes to the MCA 2005 Code of Practice and the implementation of the LPS. This consultation closed on 7 July 2022. Alongside the consultation, six sets of draft regulations, intended to underpin LPS, were also published. However, the future of the LPS is now uncertain. After a series of delays to their implementation, the government confirmed in April 2023 that the implementation of the LPS will be delayed ‘beyond the life of this Parliament’, therefore likely beyond Autumn 2024. For further background on the LPS, see: Liberty Protection Safeguards—delayed or doomed?, Liberty protection safeguards to protect vulnerable

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