header-logo header-logo

Capacity in crisis?

17 April 2014 / Beverley Taylor , Sophy Miles
Issue: 7603 / Categories: Features , Mental health
printer mail-detail

Sophy Miles & Beverley Taylor highlight the problems stemming from the Mental Capacity Act 2005

The House of Lords Select Committee on the Mental Capacity Act has recently condemned the failure to implement a “visionary” piece of legislation which “had the potential to transform the lives of many”. In a stinging report, the committee described one part of the legislation, the controversial deprivation of liberty safeguards (DOLS), as unfit for purpose.

The committee described its work as “shining a light” on an area of public policy which might otherwise have been neglected. At the start of its work it was told by officials from the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Health that the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA 2005) was “a success”. As the evidence emerged it became clear that this assessment was over-optimistic. By the concluding sessions the minister of state for care and support, Norman Lamb, had accepted that the implementation and understanding of the Act was a “work in progress”. The government has established a Mental Capacity

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
back-to-top-scroll