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Digital

National Statistics
Publication, Part of

Guardianship under the Mental Health Act 1983 - England, 2009

National statistics, Accredited official statistics
Publication Date:
Geographic Coverage:
England
Geographical Granularity:
Country, Regions, Councils with Adult Social Services Responsibilities (CASSRs), Ambulance Trusts
Date Range:
01 Apr 2002 to 31 Mar 2009

Summary

Between 2001-02 and 2008-9 The number of guardianship cases in force at the end of the year (901) was 8 per cent lower than in 2001-02 (984), but 2 per cent higher than in 2007-08 (887).

The number of new cases opened during 2008-09 (375) has decreased by 11 per cent when compared with 2007-08 (419), and by 33 per cent when compared with 2001-02 (561).

Highlights

  • 375 new guardianship cases were opened and 363 cases were closed during 2008-09, resulting in 901 cases remaining open at the end of the year
  • in 99.4 per cent of all continuing cases, guardianship was conferred on the local authority, with the remaining cases (0.6%) conferred on a named individual or other organisation
  • for cases closed during 2008-09 the average length of guardianship was 23 months. There was considerable variability in average case length by Local Authority, ranging from 2 to 168 months
  • just 14 per cent of all local authorities (21 out of 150) accounted for 50 per cent of all cases open at 31 March 2009
  • local authorities within the North West accounted for 30% of all open cases, whilst local authorities in Inner and Outer London, the East of England and the East Midlands accounted for just 4 per cent, 5 per cent and 6 per cent of cases respectively.

Revised version of the publication was issued on 27 October 2009 with minor amendments to the front cover.

Resources

Last edited: 11 April 2018 4:16 pm