Law Commission to review Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards in their entirety

When the Government’s law reform advisory body announced its 12th programme in July this year, it included a project to consider how deprivation of liberty should be authorised and supervised in settings other than hospitals and care homes.

The Law Commission has now revealed that in response to recent developments and following consultation with stakeholders, the Department had asked it to extend the scope of this work to include reconsidering the legislation underpinning the DoLS under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

Nicholas Paines QC, the lead Commissioner for the project, said "The Department's decision is very welcome. Our timetable for the project remains unaffected. We expect to publish a consultation paper in the summer 2015 and our final report and draft legislation in summer 2017."

When it announced its original project, the Law Commission said the DoLS had been heavily criticised since their introduction in 2007 for being overly complex and excessively bureaucratic.

A House of Lords select committee this year concluded that the safeguards were “not fit for purpose” and called for them to be replaced.

The Supreme Court shortly afterwards issued its landmark Cheshire West ruling, which resulted in more persons being considered to have been deprived of their liberty than was previously the case.

In August Sir James Munby, President of the Court of Protection, handed down a ruling in which he sought to set out a standardised approach to deprivation of liberty cases in the aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling.