Minister expresses doubt over replacing Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards with Liberty Protection Safeguards

Speaking during a committee debate on the Mental Health Bill this week, Stephen Kinnock said: “The previous Government paused the implementation of the liberty protection safeguards; they decided to focus on other priorities.

“In the absence of LPS, the deprivation of liberty safeguards system will continue to apply. The Department has made it clear that all bodies with legal duties under the DoLS must continue to operate these important safeguards to ensure that the rights of people without the relevant mental capacity are protected.”

Asked by Dr Luke Evans MP whether he had any plan or implementation timetable for LPS, given that their introduction had been paused, Kinnock said: “We have made it clear that we are going to continue with DoLS. Basically, we have to look at whether replacing them with LPS will achieve the stated objectives of the exercise, and I am not entirely convinced about that. It is under review.”

DoLS were introduced under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, to protect the human rights of people aged 18 or over if they do not have the mental capacity to consent to their care arrangements and they need to be deprived of their liberty.

The LPS – as provided for by the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 – would have extended the scheme to cover 16 and 17-year-olds, applied the safeguards to additional settings, including people’s homes and supported living services, and given responsibility for issuing authorisations to NHS trusts and integrated care boards, along with local authorities.

They were intended in part to deal with the significant backlogs arising as a result of the landmark Supreme Couert ruling in Cheshire West.

However, in April 2023, the then government announced that the implementation of LPS would be delayed beyond the life of that parliament.

In October 2024 the Care Quality Commission called for a “substantial intervention” into the DoLS system, warning that too many people were waiting too long for a DoLS authorisation, despite multiple examples of local authorities trying their best to reduce backlogs.

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