There are changes to Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) taking place

The government is in the process of legislating to replace DoLS with LPS Liberty Protection Safeguards. LPS is the result of a review commissioned by government ministers and carried out by the Law Commission. The proposals resulting from the review have been agreed in principle by government and will now proceed through parliament as a bill which when passed, will amend the current legislation on DoLS

The review was the government response to the Supreme Court, Cheshire West ruling which lowered the threshold of what constituted a DoLS and increased the number of cases where DoLS were needed and also the House of Lords review of the Mental Capacity Act which concluded that DoLS were not fit for purpose.

Because the proposals for LPS have only been agreed in principle, it is possible that changes may still be made to them. Some of the changes proposed are as follows:

The Liberty Protection Safeguards, to be known as LPS or LiPS should apply to all settings not just care homes and hospitals This should mean that it will no longer be necessary to apply to the court of protection for some cases and where necessary it may apply to people in their own homes.

Part of the proposal is that it will no longer be necessary for all assessments to be carried out by a Best Interests Assessor, only those cases where agreement cannot be reached and also that the number of assessments be reduced from six to three. Best Interest Assessors may well be renamed as their role changes.

Much of the above has still to be turned into a workable plan and as the Mental Health Act is currently being reviewed it is likely they will look at the area where they cross over to make it clearer.

We will update this information as it becomes clearer.

If you would like to talk to us about how we can help you with your current DoLS Training, then please contact us today.