Mental Capacity Cases

Summary CGT (acting through his father, SGT) as litigation friend, brought a judicial review of a decision taken by West Sussex County Council in June 2024 to: Refuse to provide care and support to CGT on the basis that he did not financially qualify; and Refuse to reimburse CGT for discretionary funding he had been provided since June 2020. CGT was born in 1994. He suffered a brain injury as an infant which led to his having a severe cognitive impairment, visual impairment, epilepsy and other life-long difficulties. He has lived in supported accommodation since 2013, and has been found [...]

Summary Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board v RW & Anor [2026] EWCOP 10 (T3) provides a snapshot of the realities of navigating health and welfare decision-making of a kind that rarely makes it to court.[1]  In short compass, it concerns a failure by a hospital to consult with an attorney regarding decision-making about life-sustaining treatment.  In the context of a considerable focus on understanding about the MCA in Parliament at the moment, it is important to emphasise that failures to apply the Act are not uncommon, including (here) failures to comply with a clear statutory duty to consult.  What is uncommon [...]

Summary Re DA (Whether to replace a Single Joint Expert) [2026] EWCOP 7 (T2) is a decision which, as its name helpfully makes clear, is about a procedural point that sometimes arises, namely where one party to a joint instruction of an expert (here a psychiatrist) is sufficiently discontented with their report that they want another run at matters.  On the facts of the case before him, HHJ Burrows rejected the criticisms of the expert levelled at him by a number of the parties, both as to whether he had acted improperly in having a discussion with the solicitor for [...]

Summary In Re AB (Enable & Thrive Ltd) [2026] EWCOP 11 (T3), Senior Judge Hilder, not without a certain degree of reluctance, confirmed that a trust corporation which has (corporately) no independent regulatory oversight can, in some situations, be appointed as a property and affairs deputy.  That category of trust corporation had been envisaged in an earlier judgment of Senior Judge Hilder, Various Incapacitated Persons and the Appointment of Trust Corporations as Deputies [2018] EWCOP 3, identified Re AB as “the First Judgment.” Senior Judge Hilder revisited the conclusions of the First Judgment as regards the undertakings that must provided before [...]

Summary This case concerned an application by Alison Parr, the mother of an 18 year old to be appointed as welfare deputy for her daughter, Ruby.  Ruby lived with her mother and two siblings, with her mother being her lead carer and the person co-ordinating Ruby’s care package. Ruby had a severe learning disability and multiple serious health problems including intractable epilepsy, and was on long term ventilation and was fed by PEG. Her mother’s application had been rejected on the papers (as is common) but on reconsideration, Poole J granted the deputyship order and permitted the family to be [...]

Summary[1] In the Capacity and Self-Determination Law 2016, Jersey has a framework which looks a great deal like the Mental Capacity Act 2005; the Jersey courts look to the caselaw in England & Wales to help them navigate some of the dilemmas that they are encountering in considering capacity and best interests. The decision in Re E [2026]JRC002 provides an example – we suggest – where the English courts might well wish to look south. The case was brought by the Delegate (the equivalent of a Deputy) for a young man, E, seeking the Court’s blessing of her decision to [...]

Summary Whether you can have capacity to conduct proceedings about a decision you lack capacity to make is a question that infrequently, but consistently, troubles the Court of Protection. Mostyn J once memorably describing the potential for such a scenario to be as rare as a white leopard.  SJ v Cardiff & Vale University Health Board & Anor [2025] EWCOP 54 (T2), a case decided before Christmas, but which has only recently come onto Bailii,[1] contains a very thorough analysis of whether a white leopard had been spotted.  The court in that case was faced with the situation where there [...]

EF was a 44-year-old man with Down’s Syndrome. He had kidney failure and required thrice weekly dialysis and medication to manage his phosphate levels. He had missed many sessions and had not stayed for the full required time at many more sessions, with the result that his dialysis was chronically inadequate, putting him at risk of sudden death or other complications, including difficulty breathing, heart and peripheral vascular problems, acute confusion, damage to bones and blood vessels, and painful, and/or uncomfortable skin conditions. The three represented parties (NHS Trust, EF by the Official Solicitor, and the local authority with safeguarding [...]

Summary In this case, McKendrick J granted an application by the applicant NHS Trust for EF to be removed from the lifelong care of his father, NN, and placed in a nearby supported living placement for the purposes of ensuring he received a sufficient level of dialysis and regular medication. EF was a 44-year-old man with Down’s Syndrome. He had kidney failure and required thrice weekly dialysis and medication to manage his phosphate levels. He had missed many sessions and had not stayed for the full required time at many more sessions, with the result that his dialysis was chronically [...]

Summary This case concerned SL, a 30-year-old woman with complex needs who lived with her parents. By the time of the hearing, there was broad agreement between the parties that SL should remain living at home with her parents with the current comprehensive package of support. It was also agreed that there should be a pause of at least six months in assessing SL for, and introducing her to, alternative placements, given the level of distress that the process of moving placements had caused her to date. Theis J heard oral evidence from GF, the allocated social worker, DL and [...]