Government to launch a consultation on Liberty Protection Safeguards to improve safeguarding for vulnerable people.

The Social Care Institute for Excellence is not normally an alarmist body, which makes its recent (26 August 2025) statement on MCA reform all the more striking.  I reproduce the material sections below: Failure to act on long-delayed reforms to the Mental Capacity Act is contributing to preventable deaths, unlawful detentions and growing human rights concerns. The Mental Capacity Act (MCA) is the legal foundation for decisions made on behalf of people who cannot decide for themselves, because of dementia, learning disability, brain injury or serious illness.

Patricia's Father & Ors v Patricia & Ors EWCOP 30 (T3) is a challenging case at a number of levels, over and above the human tragedy at the centre of it. Procedurally, it highlights the pitfalls of identifying the point at which a decision made by the Court of Protection needs to be revisited because it is harming, rather than helping.

By Celia Kitzinger, 14th May 2025 The man at the centre of this case (COP 20006397, before Poole J) is in his 40s.  On 5th May 2024, he suffered a cardiac arrest resulting in a severe hypoxic …

YouTube video by Anchor Point ABI

With their customary efficiency, the Parliamentary authorities have printed a new version of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill as amended in the Public Bill Committee stage.  This &#8211…

Monitoring the Mental Health Act is our annual report on the use of the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA).

Cobb J is shortly to take his position on the Court of Appeal.  The decision in Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council v LS [2025] EWCOP 10 (T3) shows just what an asset he will be to the Court of…

Book Review: Peter Thornton, The Later Years: The Simple Guide to Organising the Rest of your Life (Bedford Square. 2025, 337pp, paperback, £10.99) The only flaw with this book is its title, as it …

By Celia Kitzinger, 3rd March 2025 The Transparency and Open Justice Board recently sought views on the Board’s proposed key objectives. The Board was created in April 2024 by the Lady Ch…

How can we effect change so as to end coercion in mental health settings and transform the social context of distress? Explore this at the two-day 3rd CICSI Summer School, taught by a leading experts…

This page contains resources relating to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill introduced as a Private Member’s Bill by Kim Leadbeater MP.  The Bill can be found here, as can details o…

The February 2025 Mental Capacity Report is now out.  Highlights this month include: (1) In the Health, Welfare and Deprivation of Liberty Report: myth-busting about DoLS and strong words about ass…

In association with the HSCWRU Homelessness Research Programme at King's

The President of the Family Division has set out public-facing Practice Guidance (January 2025) for cases transitioning from the National DOL List (“NDL”) to the Court of Protection. The Practice G…

The Joint Committee on Human Rights is undertaking scrutiny of the Mental Health Bill to assess its compatibility with international and domestic human rights standards.  The Committee has a call f…

The Law Commission published its consultation paper on disabled children’s social care on 8 October.  I am a consultant to the project. In addition to the various other ways in which to get y…

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: call for evidence

Grace is based in Shropshire, in the West Midlands, originally from Manchester.

Re ZX (Capacity to Engage in Sexual Relations) [2024] EWCA Civ 1462 is a leapfrog appeal from a Tier 2 Judge to the Court of Appeal; a relatively recent innovation.  It concerns the thorny issue of…

This page contains resources relating to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill introduced as a Private Member’s Bill by Kim Leadbeater MP.  The Bill can be found here, as can details o…