Minister ‘not convinced’ on replacing DoLS with Liberty Protection Safeguards

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The introduction of the LPS is “under review”, Stephen Kinnock told fellow MPs on the committee scrutinising the government’s Mental Health Bill yesterday.

However, he said he was “not entirely convinced” that the reform would achieve its stated objectives, and stressed that the government would be continuing with DoLS.

The LPS was legislated for through the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 to replace the DoLS and the parallel use of Court of Protection orders to authorise the deprivation of liberty of people for the purposes of their care and treatment where they lack the capacity to consent.

A repeatedly delayed reform

The reform was intended to streamline the system and thereby help manage the huge and sustained rise in case numbers since the landmark 2014 Cheshire West judgment widened the definition of what constituted a deprivation of liberty under Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

However, the reform was delayed repeatedly and then shelved by the last government, while the Labour administration has remained silent on the LPS since taking power last July, until Kinnock’s remarks this week.

He told MPs: “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 [of Health and Social Care] 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.