The End of the Cheshire West Era: The Supreme Court’s New Tests for Objective and Subjective Deprivations of Liberty

Date and time 

Tuesday 2nd June 2026

1pm – 2pm

Venue 

Zoom

About the Event

The Supreme Court has set aside the decision of P v Cheshire West and Chester Council [2014] UKSC 19. In A Reference by the Attorney General for Northern Ireland of a devolution issue under paragraph 34 of Schedule 10 to the Northern Ireland Act 1998 [2026] UKSC 16, the Supreme Court has determined that:

1. 1. The Cheshire West ‘acid test’ for identifying the objective element of deprivation of liberty was wrong and departed from Strasbourg case law;

1. 2. A person without mental capacity to make decisions about their residence and care arrangements can give subjective consent to what would otherwise be a deprivation of liberty, so as to take their circumstances out of Article 5 ECHR.

Join Victoria Butler-Cole KC, Neil Allen and Arianna Kelly for a rapid response seminar at 1:00PM today for a discussion of what the Supreme Court has decided the objective and subjective tests for deprivations of liberty are, and the judgment’s profound implications for the approximately 400,000 people in England and Wales who are currently considered to be deprived of their liberty.

Webinar Recording