Research and analysis

Chapter 6: deprivation of liberty safeguards

Updated 27 January 2020

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/people-with-learning-disabilities-in-england/chapter-6-deprivation-of-liberty-safeguards

Summary

Specific information concerning Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) applications and outcomes for adults with learning disabilities is available from 2009 to 2010 up to either 2013 to 2014 (for completed DoLS applications) or 2015 to 2016 (for granted DoLS applications). These data show very little change over time from 2009 to 2010 to the period 2013 to 2014, then rapid increases both for adults with learning disabilities and adults generally after the Supreme Court ‘Cheshire West’ judgement.

This information:

  • relates to deprivation of liberty that has been authorised by local authorities for people who are being supported in a care home or hospital. An overview of this system for authorising deprivation of liberty can be found on the SCIE website
  • does not include cases taken to the court of protection to authorise the deprivation of liberty of people who are supported in their own homes, or in supported living settings. Some information about court of protection authorisations is available in this government quarterly report and in Community Care articles from 2015 and 2017

People with learning disabilities in England

National statistical information on the characteristics of people with learning disabilities, and the services and supports they and their families use, is collected by several government departments. The aim of People with Learning Disabilities in England, produced by the Learning Disabilities Team at Public Health England (PHE), is to provide a concise summary of this information.

Previous versions have been produced as a single report, most recently People with Learning Disabilities in England 2015[footnote 1]. In this version of People with Learning Disabilities in England, individual sections are updated as data become available, to allow for more regular and timely updates of national statistics.

Deprivation of liberty safeguards (DoLS)

NHS Digital collects data concerning Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) applications and outcomes in a series of annual reports[footnote 1] [footnote 2] [footnote 3] [footnote 4] [footnote 5] [footnote 6] [footnote 7] [footnote 8] [footnote 9]. NHS Digital states that “The Deprivation of liberty safeguards (DoLS) are a legal framework that exist to ensure that individuals who lack the mental capacity to consent to the arrangements for their care, where such care may (because of restrictions imposed on an individual’s freedom of choice or movement) amount to a ‘deprivation of liberty’, have the arrangements independently assessed to ensure they are in the best interests of the individual concerned.”

Statistics concerning requests for such authorisation, and whether they were granted or not, are available for 2009 to 2010 through to 2017 to 2018. It is worth noting that the recording of disability categories changed slightly after the first quarter of data collection in 2010 to 2011 (that is, at the end of June 2010). Before this time, disability categories were not mutually exclusive and more than one disability category could be entered; after this time only one disability category could be recorded. This is consistent with other data collections which specify a primary need.

The Supreme Court ‘Cheshire West’ judgement in March 2014, broadening the circumstances under which DoLS apply, has had a major impact on the number of DoLS applications and the capacity of local authorities in responding to them. Reflecting this, some of the data for 2014 to 2015 is not provided in ways that are comparable to previous years due to some concerns about the quality of the data. In addition, from 2016 to 2017 onwards data are not reported by disability group, so figures for adults with learning disabilities are only available up to 2015 to 2016.

Figure 1 below shows the number of DoLS applications completed by local authorities from 2009 to 2010 to the period 2017 to 2018 (see Table 1 in the accompanying PDF data tables document for a more detailed data table). From 2009 to 2010 to 2013 to 2014, the overall number of completed DoLS applications increased steadily from 7,157 applications in 2009 to 2010 to 13,398 applications in 2013 to 2014. However, the number of completed DoLS applications regarding adults with learning disabilities, despite year-on-year fluctuations, stayed reasonably stable over this time period (1,550 applications in 2009 to 2010; 1,403 applications in 2013 to 2014). The number of DoLS applications not completed in the reporting year during this time period was not reported, but was considered to be extremely low.

Following the ‘Cheshire West’ Supreme Court judgement in March 2014, the number of DoLS applications increased sharply, up to 137,540 applications in 2014 to 2015 and continuing to increase through to 227,400 applications in 2017 to 2018. These figures are not broken down according to whether the applications concern adults with learning disabilities or not. The number of completed DoLS applications also increased dramatically, to 62,645 completed applications for all adults in 2014 to 2015 and through to 181,785 completed applicants in 2017 to 2018. However, the number of DoLS applications not completed was also high and continued to increase, from 101,740 applications in 2015 to 2016 (the first year these data were reported) to 125,630 applications in 2017 to 2018.

The number of completed DoLS applications for adults with learning disabilities and all other adults aged 18+ from 200910 to 2013/14

Figure 1: Number of completed DoLS applications 2009 to 2010 to the time period 2017 to 2018 and not completed DoLS applications 2015 to 2016 to the period 2017 to 2018. Adults with learning disabilities aged 18+ vs all other adults aged 18+ 2009 to 2010 to the time period 2013 to 2014; all adults 2014 to 2015 to the period 2017 to 2018

Figure 2 below shows the number of completed DoLS applications that were granted from 2009 to 2010 to 2015 to 2016 for adults with learning disabilities vs all other adults, and for all adults combined from 2016 to 2017 to 2017 to 2018 (see Table 2 in the accompanying PDF data tables document for a more detailed data table).

Reflecting the figures for DoLS applications generally, up to 2013 to 2014 the number of granted DoLS applications relating to adults with learning disabilities stayed fairly static (from 654 granted DoLS applications in 2009 to 2010 to 576 granted applications in 2013 to 2014) while the number of granted DoLS applications for other adults steadily increased (from 2,643 granted DoLS applications in 2009 to 2010 to 7,053 granted applications in 2013 to 2014).

Reflecting the overall sharp increase in DoLS applications from 2014 to 2015 onwards, in 2014 to 2015 and 2015 to 2016 the number of completed DoLS applications that were granted increased sharply, for applications concerning adults with learning disabilities (8,795 granted DoLS applications in 2014 to 2015 and 10,055 granted applications in 2015 to 2016) and particularly for other adults (43,400 granted applications in 2014 to 2015 and 66,475 granted applications in 2015 to 2016). Data are only available for all adults combined from 2016/17 onwards, showing a continuing sharp rise in granted DoLS applications (96,340 in 2016 to 2017; 2017 to 2018 in 2017 to 2018).

The number of completed DoLS applications that were granted for adults with learning disabilities and all other adults from 2009/10 to 2015/16

Figure 2: Number of completed DoLS applications granted 2009 to 2010 to the time period 2015 to 2016 – adults with learning disabilities aged 18+ vs all other adults aged 18+; 2016 to 2017 to the time period 2017 to 2018 all adults

References

  1. NHS Digital (2010) Mental Capacity Act (2005) Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards Assessments - England, 2009-2010, First report on annual data ↩ ↩2

  2. NHS Digital (2011) Mental Capacity Act (2005) Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards Assessments - England, 2010-2011, Second report on annual data ↩

  3. NHS Digital (2012) Mental Capacity Act (2005) Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards Assessments - England, 2011-2012, Third report on annual data ↩

  4. NHS Digital (2013) Mental Capacity Act (2005) Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards - England, Annual Report 2012-13 ↩

  5. NHS Digital (2014) Mental Capacity Act (2005) Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (England), Annual Report 2013-14 ↩

  6. NHS Digital (2015) Mental Capacity Act (2005) Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (England), Annual Report 2014-15. ↩

  7. NHS Digital (2016) Mental Capacity Act (2005) Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (England), Annual Report 2015-16 ↩

  8. NHS Digital (2017) Mental Capacity Act (2005) Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (England), Annual Report 2016-17 ↩

  9. NHS Digital (2018) Mental Capacity Act (2005) Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (England), Annual Report 2017-18 ↩

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