Mental Capacity Report - July 2024

Welcome to the July 2024 Mental Capacity Report. Highlights this month include:

1. In the Health, Welfare and Deprivation of Liberty Report: sexual capacity complexities, wishes and feelings in the balance, and finding the P in a PDOC case;
2. In the Property and Affairs Report: deputy bond provider problems and a job opportunity in the Official Solicitor’s office;
3. In the Practice and Procedure Report: how far can the Court of Protection go to ensure its orders are complied with, and risk taking, best interests and health and welfare deputies;
4. In the Mental Health Matters Report: Tier 4 beds (again) and the Mental Health Tribunal and the Parole Board;
5. In the Wider Context Report: local authority consent to confinement, the Irish courts continue to grapple with the consequences of the framework, and Strasbourg pronounces on assisted dying;
6. In the Scotland Report: exasperation at the pace of the Scottish Government’s Mental Health and Capacity Reform Programme.

There is one plug this month, for a free digital trial of the newly relaunched Court of Protection Law Reports (now published by Butterworths.  For a walkthrough of one of the reports, see here.

Alex trusts that readers will not mind a slight blowing of the trumpet at his having been awarded Outstanding Legal Achievement at the 2024 Modern Law Private Client Awards for his work sharing knowledge about the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (and hence, in significant part, thanks to his fellow editors on this Report), and being appointed Professor of Practice at King’s College London from August 2024 (a position which reflects the opportunities given by Chambers to him to moonlight so often away from the day job – for which he is very grateful!).

You can find our past issues, our case summaries, and more on our dedicated sub-site here, where you can also sign up to the Mental Capacity Report.

COPLR headnoted case walkthrough from Ruck Keene on Vimeo.

Click below to download the Screen-friendly version of the Report or the Print-friendly version of the Report.