Guidance

Liberty Protection Safeguards: support for national training and readiness

Published 25 June 2021

Applies to England

The Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) will provide protection for people aged 16 and above who are, or who need to be, deprived of their liberty in order to enable their care or treatment and lack the mental capacity to consent to their arrangements. People who might have a LPS authorisation include those with dementia, autism and learning disabilities who lack the relevant capacity.

LPS will replace an existing system (the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLs)) and extend protections to more settings and people, including young people aged 16 and 17. Diverse sectors and professions will be called upon to successfully implement LPS, spanning local government, social care and health. This guidance provides information about national plans for workforce training and readiness work to support implementation in England. It will be updated as further information becomes available.

The government has established 2 English implementation support programmes as follows:

1. Local Government Implementation Support Programme

This programme will be led by the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, in partnership with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), with support from the Department for Education (DFE). It will:

• develop exemplar training products for local authorities, for the conversion of best interest assessors (BIAs) to approved mental capacity professionals (AMCPs). The government proposes that BIAs under DoLS are replaced with the statutory AMCP role under LPS. BIAs that wish to convert to AMCPs would need to undergo training, which would be delivered by local authorities. Exemplar training will help local authorities prepare and deliver high quality training.
• appoint ‘regional implementation champions’ separately for adult and children’s services in each of the English regions
• provide targeted support to local authorities to facilitate implementation planning and activities
• work through established regional structures across both adult and children’s services to develop and disseminate key information about LPS and to inform local authority planning for implementation

2. Social Care Providers Implementation Support Programme

This programme will be led by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) and Skills for Care in partnership with the DHSC. It will:

• establish how the social care sector is planning for LPS and what national support it needs to make implementation a success
• develop and disseminate key information about LPS to inform social care providers’ planning for implementation. This will include exemplar guidance, resources and training for people working in social care.

3. Healthcare Implementation Support Programme

The government is working with the NHS in England, including Health Education England, on plans for a third implementation support programme for health.

This page will be updated as more information about all strands of implementation support work becomes available.

More information about implementation planning, workforce training and readiness will be included in the government’s forthcoming public consultation on LPS.