The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) procedure is designed to protect the rights of someone where the care or treatment received in a hospital or care home means they are, or may become, deprived of their liberty, and they lack mental capacity to consent to those arrangements.
Lorraine Currie, WM ADASS Associate, supports the region's DoLS activity
18 October 3025: important developments on liberty protection safeguards
Lorraine Currie writes: In the early hours of 18 October an important announcement was made in relation to LPS Improved safeguarding and protections for vulnerable people - GOV.UK More information can be found here Government will replace DoLS with Liberty Protection Safeguards - Community Care
A consultation on the Liberty Protection Safeguards will be launched in the first half of next year, seeking the views of those affected such as families, carers and practitioners including social workers, nurses, psychologists and occupational therapists. It will be jointly run by the Department of Health and Social Care and the Ministry of Justice.
The responses from this consultation will be used to inform a final Mental Capacity Act (2005) Code of Practice which will be laid in Parliament.
The revised Code of Practice will incorporate changes in case law, legislation, organisational structures, terminology, and good practice since 2007 addressing critical challenges in the existing Deprivations of Liberty Safeguards framework.
The announcement makes reference to a Supreme Court hearing to be held 20-22 October 2025 which will discuss key aspects of the meaning of a deprivation of liberty.
Northern Ireland put forward a challenge to the Supreme Court about what is considered a ‘deprivation of liberty’. This is a challenge to the current Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, with any ruling having a UK wide impact.
The UK government has been granted permission by the Supreme Court to intervene in this case – as it recognises the issue within the current system and sought to be part of this vital conversation and put forward a UK wide solution.
So, the question is whether the timing of the announcement of a commitment to LPS is connected in any way to the Supreme Court hearing. It would seem that the announcement is too close to the hearing to be coincidental. Either the Government thinks that there may be a favourable decision which narrows the scope of Cheshire West or they are capitalising on the momentum which the Supreme Court reexamination of Cheshire West offers for legal change.
Whatever the reason, it is good to have some acknowledgement of a route forward. Any implementation of LPS will be some years away and we are not clear whether there will be any measures in the interim to deal with the huge numbers of people waiting for assessment. We may know more on that when we have the outcome of the Supreme Court case which will be expected in about six months’ time.
See also in our resources section: DOLS Supreme Court Hearing 20-22 October 2025: summary of what each party is asking the court to decide and A statement by WMADASS in relation to the application to the Supreme Court by the Attorney General for Northern Ireland
DoLS data 2023-24
- 10,140 acute hospitals
- 445 mental health establishments
- 13,805 care home nursing
- 10,830 Care home residential
- 475 other
- 2885 blank or invalid
DoLS data 2022-23
An extract for the West Midlands region of the national DoLS data for 2022-23, which shows a 17.5% increase in applications in the region is available from the link or find it in our resources section.
Other resources
See also the article by WM ADASS and DoLs specialist Lorraine Currie I wouldn’t start from here – A blog about the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards
Lorraine recommends the National Mental Capacity Forum one-hour webinars covering many aspects of the Mental Capacity Act. All previous webinars are available to watch online at NMCF Events & Resources - Autonomy Project (essex.ac.uk)
Our webinar/virtual conference held on 19 October 2023 generated or referenced resources that are available in our resources section:
DoLS webinar 19 October: full slide deck
DoLS webinar 19 October 2023: links from Teams chat
A Digital Cage is Still a Cage by Neil Crowther & Lorna McGregor
Resources added 25 March 2024
Three DoLS documents WM ADASS has reviewed and updated, and ADASS has adopted for wider use have been added to the resources section:
The ADASS DoLS Priority Tool, developed after Cheshire West, has been updated to reflect current practice and priorities.
The Rights Guide is something to be given to people once there is a DoLS authorisation in place to tell them what their rights are.
An easyread version of The Rights Guide.
Further resources added 28 March 2024
The following documents have been added to the resources section:
WM ADASS DoLS forms guidance 2024 has been issued following completion of a review of guidance to support practitioners with the DoLS forms (a set of which are available in the resources library).
We have also produced a recommended DoLS operating model for the West Midlands, which highlights some of the most efficient practices to be utilised in the DoLS process. We recognise that not all Councils can utilise every aspect of the model but we are hopeful that it will be of use to everyone.
Additionally, we are making available two leaflets which highlight the required DoLS information for Care Homes and for Hospitals. These are made available for councils to use and circulate widely.