Newsletter

Mental Capacity Report – April 2022

Welcome to the April 2022 Mental Capacity Report. Highlights this month include:

(1) In the Health, Welfare and Deprivation of Liberty Report: Draft MCA and LPS Code published; capacity to terminate a pregnancy; the (limited) role of the Inherent Jurisdiction; and is an application needed in all vaccine disputes?

(2) In the Property and Affairs Report: the Court of Appeal weighs in on testamentary capacity, and the evidence used to prove it; and an invitation to the pilot for digital submission of property and affairs cases

(3) In the Practice and Procedure Report: reporting restrictions; the role of COP in MHA discharge planning; costs; and notable conferences on capacity;

(4) In the Wider Context Report: the impact of s.49 reports on mental health professionals; Article 2 and 3 damages claim; the M'Naghten test considered; and is having a deputy an Article 14 'status'?

(5) In the Scotland Report: Guardians' remuneration; open justice or anonymisation; and still time to contribute to the Scott Review or sign up to the World Congress on Adult Capacity in Edinburgh.

You can find our past issues, our case summaries, and more on our dedicated sub-site here, where you can also find updated versions of both our capacity and best interests guides.   We have taken a deliberate decision not to cover all the host of COVID-19 related matters that might have a tangential impact upon mental capacity in the Report. Chambers has created a dedicated COVID-19 page with resources, seminars, and more, here; Alex maintains a resources page for MCA and COVID-19 here, and Neil a page here.   If you want more information on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which we frequently refer to in this Report, we suggest you go to the Small Places website run by Lucy Series of Cardiff University.

Click here for the screen-friendly version of the Report

Click here for the print-friendly version of the Report