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The numbers of applications for DoLs and LPAs have continued to rise sharply according to the latest court statistics from the Ministry of Justice. Between April and June 2017, 919 applications relating to deprivation of liberty were made, that's an increase of 24% on the same period in 2016. The number of orders made almost doubled, from 375 to 689 respectively. (see also the graph below) The figures also show that applications for LPAs continued their upward trend with 194,012 applications received, up 30%. Applications for Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPAs) though declined, with 2,953 applications received, down 9%. MCA applications remained steady with 7,623 applications (compared with 7,616 applications in 2016) but the authors note that the number of orders made increased by over 50% (10,205) driven, they say, by "a clearance of outstanding cases and an increase in the number of cases being dealt with by regional courts." Further detail is in the Family Court statistics report available on the MoJ website.  The Office of the Public Guardian has published new guidance concerning travel costs that can be claimed by deputies.
It follows amendments to practice direction B to part 19 of the Court of Protection Rules, made in April 2017, that introduced a new provision allowing public authorities and other third sector deputies to claim a fixed amount for travel costs (paragraph 21). The Guidance sets out the deputies duties, what travel costs might be covered and how to calculate them. It also makes clear that it is a general guide only, setting out their interpretation of what counts as a reasonable claim: the Court of Protection is the ultimate arbiter. You can read the Guidance here The latest Family Court Statistics Bulletin published by the MoJ shows that the number DoLS applications doubled again in 2016. There were 3,143 applications in that year compared with 1,497 in 2015. Out of that number 1,366 orders were made.
The Bulletin also shows that the number of Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) received increased to 590,593 in 2016, up 80,000 on 2015. However the number of Deputyships appointed remained fairly stable, with 12,436 appointments in 2016. You can read more in Section 10 of the Bulletin available here. Amendments to the Court of Protection Rules 2007 and a raft of changes to the accompanying Practice Directions have been published.
An an accompanying explanatory memorandum published on the Judiciary website states that: "7.1 Amendments to the Court of Protection Rules are long overdue: no comprehensive update of rules has been done since they were first introduced in 2007, and there have been only very limited amendments in 2009 and 2011, and some more substantial amendments in 2015. The changes made by this instrument will strengthen the Court of Protection’s powers to deal with current challenges particularly the increase in caseloads and complexity of cases. 7.2 The proposed rule changes will give the court greater powers, following the model of the Civil Procedure Rules providing for civil restraint orders, to deal with applications which are without merit and allow the court, for instance, to restrain litigants from submitting repeat applications. Further changes will also introduce a new framework for international applications that will reflect current practices and case law in cross jurisdictional cases and bring clarity and consistency to the making of such applications which is now needed as these types of cases are emerging more frequently. " The Court of Protection (Amendment) Rules 2017 (SI 2017 no. 187) amend the 2007 Rules in two respects:
Alongside these rule changes several changes to the Practice Directions are in force as set out below:
The court concluded that the Respondent Patient lacked capacity to revoke the LPA for property and affairs but that it was not to be reinstated. Instead, a professional deputy with whom the Patient had a good working relationship, was appointed and the court authorised the deputy to sell the Respondent's UK property.
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