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Digital

Publication, Part of

Mental Capacity Act 2005, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (England) Quarter 1 Return, 2014-15

Official statistics
Publication Date:
Geographic Coverage:
England
Geographical Granularity:
Country, Regions, Councils with Adult Social Services Responsibilities (CASSRs), Local Authorities
Date Range:
01 Apr 2014 to 30 Jun 2014

Summary

Since 2009, care homes and hospitals have had to seek authorisation from their Local Authority if they need to deprive an individual who lacks capacity of their liberty as part of their care and/or treatment. The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) currently collects data from Councils with Social Services Responsibilities (CASSRs or councils) on Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) at a case level on an annual basis. This information is then published in the annual report 'Mental Capacity Act, 2005, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards'. From 2013-14 the annual report is based on record level data, rather than in aggregate form as in previous years. The 2013-14 report was published on 3 September 2014 .

 


  
Supreme Court judgments handed down on 19 March 2014 have, anecdotally led to a substantial increase in the number of Deprivation of Liberty (DoL) applications received by councils. As a result of this situation, the Department of Health (DH) proposed the introduction of a temporary, voluntary data collection which has been approved by the DH/ADASS Outcomes and Information Development Board ((OIDB) now known as the Data and Outcomes Board) and the HSCIC Programme and Service Delivery Board. This quarterly collection will enable stakeholders to monitor the scale of the Supreme Court judgements' impact on councils in a timely manner, and will allow for any increase in the number of DoL applications to be quantified and evidenced.


In order to minimise the burden on councils it was agreed that only three data items are to be collected by each council on a quarterly basis including a monthly breakdown, at an aggregate level. The fields to be collected are the number of DoL application requests made, and of these, the number of requests granted and not granted.


Data will be collected on a quarterly basis, covering the period April 2014 - September 2015. This release relates to quarter 1 of the collection, which covers 1 April - 30 June 2014. The data shows the position at September 2014, when the returns were submitted and may need to be updated by councils as further applications are completed.

Highlights

Quarter 1 2014-15

  • 130 out of 152 councils (86 percent of all councils) submitted data for quarter 1 (April - June 2014).
  • The total number of DoL applications from 130 submitting councils in quarter 1 2014-15 was 21,600.
  • During this quarter there were 4,500 DoL applications in April, 7,500 applications in May and 9,600 applications in June from 130 submitting councils.
  • In 2013-14 the total number of applications for these 130 councils was 12,400, of which 58 per cent (7,200) were granted, 40 per cent (4,900) were not granted and 2 per cent (300) were not yet signed off by the Supervisory Body or were withdrawn.
  • Of the DoL applications received in quarter 1 2014-15, 51 per cent (11,100) were granted, 12 per cent (2,700) not granted and 36 per cent (7,800) were not yet signed off by the Supervisory Body or were withdrawn.
  • Councils will be encouraged to update their quarter 1 2014-15 figures in the subsequent quarter to account for those applications that have been granted or not granted since the closing of quarter 1. Those councils that were unable to submit data for quarter 1 will be asked to provide this along with their figures for quarter 2.

Point 4 relates to those applications that were not yet signed off by the Supervisory Body or were withdrawn as of 31 March 2014, the end of the submission period. In Point 5 the total number of DoL applications in quarter 1 2014-15 does not equate to the total number of DoL applications granted and not as some applications, as of 12 September 2014, were not yet signed off by the Supervisory Body or were withdrawn.

Numbers are rounded to the nearest 100.
Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.

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Last edited: 19 June 2020 9:57 am