Update on the delayed implementation of Liberty Protection Safeguarding

As you will probably be aware, the Mental Capacity Act 2005 includes a provision known as Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), which enables legal safeguards to be put in place for an adult who lacks capacity and is in a hospital or a care home.

Additionally, there is a separate process for deprivations of liberty that occur in the community, The Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 introduces Liberty Protection Safeguarding (LPS) to replace DoLs. LPS will cover a wider range of circumstances than the current DoLs arrangements including 16 and 17-year-olds.

These changes were initially scheduled for April 2021. With the outbreak of Covid, this was deferred until April 2022. We have now received notification from the Department of Health and Social Care ( DHSC ) that LPS will not now be introduced in April 2022.

Prior to the change, the DHSC will issue a draft Code of Practice with a 12-week consultation to allow sufficient time for those that are affected, including those with learning disabilities, to respond. The draft Code will provide detailed proposals for the design and implementation of the LPS. We encourage everyone who will be impacted by the changes to participate in the consultation when it is launched. The Council will alert partners as soon as we hear that the Code has been launched.

It is anticipated that there will be a minimum period of 3 months following the consultation whilst the DHSC considers responses and then a final decision will be made about the design of the LPS and plans for implementation, including future funding plans. Only when this has taken place will the government set a new target date for implementation.

We will be in touch again as soon as we hear about the launch of the consultation as we believe that it is very important that everyone with experience of the Mental Capacity Act, their families, and people who work with the MCA can meaningfully engage with the consultation.

Guidance and webinars regarding the  Mental Capacity Act and LPS can be found at https://www.scie.org.uk/mca/lps

You can also keep updated with the progress towards LPS by registering for updates from the DHSC via this email – [email protected]