Deprivation of Liberty
- Information for people in residential care or hospitals, families and carers
- Review of authorisation
What to do if:
- you think you are being deprived of your liberty
- you think someone you know is deprived of their liberty
For the purposes of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, deprivation of liberty is not authorised if:
- a person is being kept in a hospital or care home in circumstances that amount to depriving them of their liberty, and
- their deprivation of liberty has not been authorised by an urgent or standard authorisation or by the Court of Protection, and nor is an authorisation being sought from that court.
If you are a resident in a care home or in hospital and you feel that your liberty is being deprived you can ask the managers of the home or hospital to refer you for an assessment of your situation.
You may be visiting someone close to you in a care home or hospital and feel the way they are being cared for is depriving them of their liberties without a proper authorisation for this. The Act includes procedures for dealing with such a situation.
If a person believes that someone is being deprived of their liberty without proper authority, the Act allows for them to ask the hospital or care home to request a standard authorisation. The person can do this by completing Letter 1.
If the hospital or care home does not then request a standard authorisation ‘within a reasonable period’, the person may ask the supervisory body to decide whether or not there is an unauthorised deprivation of liberty. The person may do this by completing Letter 2.
The purpose of the review procedure is essentially to assess whether:
- a person still meets the qualifying requirements for being deprived of their liberty, or whether the reasons why they do have changed; and
- any conditions attached to the standard authorisation need to be varied
The supervisory body must carry out a review if one is requested by the person being deprived of their liberty, or by their ‘relevant person’s representative’, or by the managing authority of the hospital or care home. The person being deprived of their liberty may request a review by completing Letter 3.
The relevant person’s representative may request a review by completing Letter 4.
The following documents are examples of letters that might be used by members of the public in Leicestershire, Leicester City and Rutland under certain circumstances around Deprivation of Liberty:
| Letter | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Letter 1 (30kb .doc) | Letter for a person to send to a managing authority concerning a possible unauthorised deprivation of liberty |
| Letter 2 (30kb .doc) | Letter for a person to send to a supervisory body concerning a possible unauthorised deprivation of liberty |
| Letter 3 (30kb .doc) | Letter to a supervisory body from a person subject to a standard authorisation requesting a review of the standard authorisation |
| Letter4 (30kb .doc) | Letter to a supervisory body requesting a review of the standard authorisation, from a person’s representative |
Page Last Updated: 27 June 2011
