Mental Capacity Report - December 2021

Welcome to the December 2021 Mental Capacity Report. Highlights this month include:

(1) In the Health, Welfare and Deprivation of Liberty Report: the Supreme Court takes on capacity, learning to learn, and capacity and illicit substances;

(2) In the Practice and Procedure Report: the Court of Appeal's concern about judicial visits, and reporting restrictions and accountability;

(3) In the Wider Context Report: Parole Board guidance on mental capacity, and how consumer law can help navigate care home dilemmas;

(4) In the Scotland Report: a truly shocking report of institutional inhumanity, and the extent of incapacitation under s.67 of the Adults with Incapacity Act 2000.

Because there's not a huge amount to report, there is no Property and Affairs Report this month. However, a reminder of this consultation currently underway, closing on 12 January 2022 about third-party access to limited funds. Dr Lucy Series has provided an excellent overview of the consultation here.

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