The number of deprivation of liberty applications and orders made continues to rise according to the latest official Family Court statistics.
The statistics show that 1,077 applications were made between July and September this year, up 38% on the number made in the same period in 2016. The number of orders made rose over 57% from 362 to 569 respectively. There were 8,049 applications made under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA), up 4% on the equivalent quarter in 2016 (7,762 applications), of which nearly half were for appointment of a property and affairs deputy. The continued growth in LPAs also shows no sign of abating, with 193,285 received in July to September 2017, up 32%. The full set of statistics together with supporting tables can be found on the Gov.uk statistics page. The Government has published an interim response to the Law Commission's report on Mental Capacity and Deprivation of Liberty but does not expect to respond in full until "Spring 2018"
The announcement was made via a written statement to the House from Jackie Doyle-Price (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health) who welcomed the report which they are now: "carefully considering .... We will now engage with a range of stakeholders to understand in greater detail how these changes can be implemented. We will also consider what enabling actions need to be taken to support the Mental Capacity Act ethos of greater empowerment and care centred around people, their wishes and aspirations." You can read the full statment on the Parliament website. 217,235 applications for DoLS assessments were received by local authorities in the year ending March 2017, an increase of 11 per cent on the previous year.
The figures are published by NHS Digital and derive from a mandatory data collection of all local authorities, for DoLS applications received, processed or considered to be "active" in any way during the 12 month period. Other key figures highlighted in the report are that
A briefing paper has just been published on the Parliament website which introduces the Law Commissions recommendations that DoLS are repealed as a matter of urgency, and are replaced by a new scheme called the Liberty Protection Safeguards.
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. |
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