The Government has announced a delay to the implementation of the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS).
The LPS were introduced by the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019. It will be the system that will authorise arrangements amounting to a deprivation of liberty to provide care or treatment to an individual who lacks the relevant mental capacity to consent to those arrangements, in England and Wales.
The LPS were due to be implemented by April 2022, but this aim is now unachievable.
Instead, a public consultation on the draft regulations and draft Code of Practice for the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and the LPS is expected to be launched early this year.
Reasons for the delay were attributed to the impact of the pandemic and unforeseen delays. In a letter to Liberty Protection Safeguards national steering group members, Helen Tabiner, Deputy Director, Service Quality, Department of Health and Social Care wrote ‘we recognise that our aim to implement the LPS by April 2022 cannot be met’.
However, it remains unclear when LPS will be implemented as no new dates are expected to be set.
The letter adds: ‘However, it is likely that when we launch the consultation, we will not set a new target date for implementation. The LPS are a complicated set of reforms, and we expect that a wide range of stakeholders will submit detailed consultation responses about our plans. We think it would be premature to set a new implementation date or confirm any funding to support implementation before we have been able to consider responses to the consultation. We will therefore update you on our plans, including any associated funding, after the consultation.
Further information
Read the government letter in full – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/liberty-protection-safeguards-delay-to-implementation/letter-from-dhsc-to-liberty-protection-safeguards-lps-national-steering-group-members
Mental Capacity Act Myth Busters – https://www.qcs.co.uk/mental-capacity-act-myth-busters/
