Mental Capacity and the Mental Capacity Act 2005

Mental Capacity and Decision Making
About the Act and What the Act provides
What Leicestershire County Council will be doing and How we will decide what is in your best interests
Further information

Mental Capacity is your ability to make decisions about your life.  Your capacity to make decisions could be effected by an injury, a serious illness, a disability etc.

If you want to plan ahead for a time when you do not have capacity, or if you care for someone who may not be able to make some decisions for themselves, there is useful information about Mental Capacity and Making Decisions available from The Office of the Public Guardian:

There are several things you can do to prepare for the future.  You can make people aware of what you views and wishes are if you lose capacity in the future, or appoint someone to make decisions on your behalf. Letting people know what you views and wishes are in advance can be helpful for your family, carers and for the people you have chosen to make decisions for you.

You can tell people what your views or wishes are, or write them down.

You can make an Advance Decision to Refuse Treatment, informing medical staff of treatments that you do not want to receive and the circumstances when you would refuse them.  It is advisable to contact your GP and other medical staff who care for you to get advice on making an Advance Decision to Refuse Treatment.

The Mental Capacity Act allows you to appoint someone else to make decisions for you.

Some people will already have an Enduring Powers of Attorney and the rules on Enduring Powers of Attorney have changed.  Your Enduring Power of Attorney can still be used, but must be registered if the person who appointed the Attorney loses capacity. People acting as an Enduring Power Attorney have to Act in the best interests of the person they make decisions for. Contact the Office of the Public Guardian for further advice

A new law called the Mental Capacity Act 2005 came into force in two stages in 2007. The first stage came into force on 1 April 2007 and its second stage came into force on 1 October 2007.

The new law affects anyone aged 16 or over who does not have the capacity to make some or all decisions for themselves.  It defines Mental Capacity, or ‘capacity’ as the ability to make a particular decision at a particular time. A person’s capacity can vary from day to day, and from issue to issue. Someone could have capacity to make some decisions, but not all the decisions they need to make.

A lack of capacity could be because of:

The new law will help and support you if:

The Mental Capacity Act is there to:

The Mental Capacity Act is accompanied by a Code of Practice that provides more in-depth guidance for professional staff such as social workers. Our staff will be trained in the use of the Act and the Code of Practice to assist them when they are supporting anyone who lacks capacity.

There are five key principles that our staff will follow:

The Act gives a basic checklist of the sort of things our staff will consider:

The Office of Public Guardian website which includes information booklets about the Act, and Lasting Powers of Attorney

The Department of Health website, including Training Packs