Support Planning Adults’ Services
Practice Guidance
[S.25 Care Act 2014]
This guidance document explains how support plans are made with
individuals who have had a Care Act assessment by Adults’ Services and whose need for support in meeting their assessed outcomes around
health and wellbeing are being met or partially met, by Adults’ Services.
The arrangements in place to support adults who are funding their own care and support are also described, as are the arrangements for
identifying and taking action where a person may need to be subject to the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards under the Mental Capacity Act.
Version: 3.2
Effective from:
20th August 2018
Review by:
August 2021
West Sussex County Council Adults’ Services
Support Planning (S.25 Care Act 2014): practice guidance
Author: Greg Slay, Adult Social Care Improvement and Quality Team
Copyright © West Sussex County Council / Version 3.2 / 20th August 2018 Page 2
Status Updated
Version 3.2
Issue Date August 2018
Author Greg Slay, Lead for Quality Assurance (v3.2)
Edward Armstrong, Service Development Worker (v3.1)
Owner Dave Sargeant, Interim Director of Adults’ Services,
(2018)
Signed off by Tracie Thomas, Head of Safeguarding and Adult Social Care
Date November 2015
Issue
number
Date Author Principal Changes
1.1
2.1 Nov 2015 Wendy
Shepherd
Updated Practice Instructions following the
implementation of the Care Act Revised
Support Plan document
3.1 Jan 2017 Ed
Armstrong
Updated: sections 7, 8, and referencing to
Direct Payments practice guidance
3.2 Aug 2018 Greg
Slay
Added Appendix 1. General refresh of
linked websites.
Feedback: We welcome feedback about our policies and procedures. If you have any
comments about this document please e-mail:
Equality and Diversity
As part of our commitment to equality and diversity, and in line with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010, the County Council will ensure that
all people using our services are treated with fairness, dignity and respect irrespective of any of the protected characteristics.
West Sussex County Council Adults’ Services
Support Planning (S.25 Care Act 2014): practice guidance
Author: Greg Slay, Adult Social Care Improvement and Quality Team
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Contents
This document should be read alongside:
a) ‘Achieving and evidencing good practice’; b) ‘Assessment’, ‘Eligibility’, and ‘Review and Re-assessment’ practice
guidance documents; c) ‘Direct Payments’ practice guidance;
d) Charging Policy; and
e) Mosaic user guidance.
Separate practice guidance has been prepared for support planning in
relation to carers.
All of the above can be accessed in the Professional Zone on the West Sussex Connect to Support website:
https://www.westsussexconnecttosupport.org.
This document is divided into the following sections:
Principles and legal duties;
Meeting needs; Support planning process;
Personal budgets;
Respite and replacement care; Contingencies and accruals;
Charging for arranging and administering a care package; and Recording in the support plan.
Appendix 1 provides information about arrangements for ‘Deprivation of
Liberty Safeguards in the Community.
West Sussex County Council Adults’ Services
Support Planning (S.25 Care Act 2014): practice guidance
Author: Greg Slay, Adult Social Care Improvement and Quality Team
Copyright © West Sussex County Council / Version 3.2 / 20th August 2018 Page 4
1. What are the principles and legal duties underlying the support planning process?
1.1 The key principles underlying the Care Act also apply to support planning. These include:
• Promoting wellbeing for individuals and their carers/family; • Preventing, reducing and delaying the development of needs;
• The importance of the individual participating as fully as possible in
decisions about them; and • Responding in a proportionate and flexible way.
1.2 The Care Act statutory guidance also provides some more specific
principles and duties with respect to support planning which are:
• The local authority must take into consideration the individual’s
preferences including when an individual wants to take more control over the support planning process, or wishes to have more support with
this; • The plan must detail the needs to be met, how the needs will be met,
and must link back to the outcomes that the adults wishes to achieve in day- to-day life and to the wellbeing principle;
• The support plan should be holistic;
• The support plan should reflect the individual’s wishes, their needs and
aspirations, and what is important to and for them, where this is
reasonable; • The plan should be person centered, and involve the person as much as
possible. Where the person has substantial difficulty being involved and no suitable representative, then an advocate should be involved;
• The plan should give the person choice and control over how to meet their needs, creativity should be encouraged;
• There should be no constraint on how the needs are met as long as this
is reasonable; and
• The council should refrain from any action that could be seen to restrict
choice and impede flexibility.
1.3 Furthermore, the Care Act Statutory Guidance (chapter 10,
paragraph 10.27) ( https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/care-act-statutory-guidance) clarifies the duties of the local authority and what
factors may be considered in agreeing whether a support plan and
personal budget is “reasonable”. This includes for example:
Not duplicating services provided under the Housing Act 1996 (or
equivalent and subsequent housing legislation) or provided by the NHS; Where there are overlapping entitlements, the council should take steps
West Sussex County Council Adults’ Services
Support Planning (S.25 Care Act 2014): practice guidance
Author: Greg Slay, Adult Social Care Improvement and Quality Team
Copyright © West Sussex County Council / Version 3.2 / 20th August 2018 Page 5
to support the individual to access the support they are entitled to
under other legislation, and discharge their duty in this way. For example, supporting an individual to apply for disability related
benefits; and The council may take into reasonable consideration its own finances
and budgetary position, including ensuring there are finances available to meet the needs of the entire population. This means that the council
may, when considering available alternatives, reasonably choose the option to meet identified need which delivers the persons outcomes for
the best value.
2. Meeting needs
2.1 The purpose of a support plan is to outline how a person’s eligible
needs will be met. The support plan will consider those outcomes which an
individual is unable to achieve as a result of their needs, consequently having a significant impact upon their wellbeing, and will identify how the
individual will be supported to achieve those outcomes.
2.2 Eligible needs may be met through a number of different avenues,
including:
supporting an individual to make best use of their own personal assets
and resources, and those in their local network and community;
advice and information; referral to other agencies which provide universal or targeted services;
supporting an individual to make use of entitlements to housing, NHS
healthcare, and to maximise their income through the social security benefits;
telecare;
equipment;
reablement; or provision of a personal budget – either as a one-off payment, a council-
managed budget (CMB) or a direct payment (DP).
2.3 An individual should have one, holistic support plan which identifies
how the total extent of their eligible needs will be met. Where a practitioner recognises during the assessment and support planning
process, that expertise from another professional is needed to identify the best way of meeting a need, this should be clearly noted. When a second
professional, updates a support plan started or completed originally by a practitioner from a different discipline, they should ensure the new
support plan describes how all eligible needs are met, in ways that are still appropriate and relevant. For example an Occupational Therapist may
need to consider if an element of a care package is made redundant by a
West Sussex County Council Adults’ Services
Support Planning (S.25 Care Act 2014): practice guidance
Author: Greg Slay, Adult Social Care Improvement and Quality Team
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piece of equipment provided, and if so work with social workers and/or
support brokers to make the relevant changes to the support plan. Other elements of the care package may remain relevant to meeting eligible
need and should remain on the support plan.
3. Support planning process
3.1 Teams in the Learning Disability Service and the Adult Mental Health
Service use their own commissioning services and not the support brokerage teams. With these exceptions the County Council’s aim is, as
far as possible, to facilitate people to access to the support brokerage teams.
3.2 Older people mental health teams create support plans themselves
and/or work with support brokerage, depending on what is most relevant to each individual’s need.
3.3 Hospital social work teams and Adults CarePoint2 are able to complete initial assessments as well as short term services plans, to
provide a support plan for people where advice and information, a short term intervention, referral to the Community Reablement Service, or a
simple piece of equipment is needed and a personal budget is not
required.
3.4 Staff working in our Independent Living Service are able to create
support plans for individuals themselves. If a need for a care package or direct payment is identified for change, they should discuss with social work
and/or support broker colleagues.
3.5 For those cases where an assessment is completed, and a person
has eligible needs but does not require the support of the local authority to meet these needs, this can be noted on the “action plan” in the
assessment rather than proceeding to the support plan work step on Mosaic. The action plan is a proportionate response in this situation. This
option could be used for individuals whose eligible needs can be met solely by advice and information, or individuals who have the means and ability
to arrange (and pay for) their own care and do not require help with support planning.
3.6 When a person is being referred to a support brokerage team the
support planning episode will need to be passed to the local brokerage team (North, South, or West). The only managed exceptions (defined
below) to this process should be identified at assessment stage and recorded in the assessment form.
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Support Planning (S.25 Care Act 2014): practice guidance
Author: Greg Slay, Adult Social Care Improvement and Quality Team
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Managed exceptions
Managed exceptions are only allowed in the following circumstances:
Where the social care worker identifies a level of risk that would mean that
full transfer of the adult to the support brokerage team after assessment
may result in any one of the following:
An increased risk in crisis placement;
Hospital admission; Safeguarding concerns developing;
Lack of engagement from that person; and Where legislative requirements take precedent (for example where the
Mental Health Act determines that an adult must receive support).
Where a ‘Managed Exception’ is raised then the support broker should
communicate through the allocated worker and not directly with the person unless instructed to do so.
3.7 A Welfare Benefits Advisor referral must have been completed prior
to the support planning episode being started, when the support plan requires a personal budget. It is important to check this is in place so that
any charges the adult may need to make towards the cost of his or her care package are clear as soon as possible.
4. Personal budgets
4.1 A personal budget may be considered to meet eligible needs where
no other options can be identified. This includes where the role of a carer is becoming unsustainable and no other options have been identified to
provide replacement care.
4.2 The purpose of an indicative budget, calculated via the ‘Resource Allocation System’, is to provide guidance as to what budget is
proportionate to meet that person’s need. The indicative budget is based on an evidence based assessment. The indicative budget enables the
person (with support) to plan how to meet their needs and achieve their desired outcomes. Universal, preventative and community options should
be considered where possible.
4.3 The following checklist should be considered before a support plan is agreed and a personal budget is finalised and signed-off:
West Sussex County Council Adults’ Services
Support Planning (S.25 Care Act 2014): practice guidance
Author: Greg Slay, Adult Social Care Improvement and Quality Team
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Tick Checklist
Is the support plan
reasonable?
Have
opportunities for
reablement been
maximised?
Irrespective of adult group and;
Including equipment or assistive technology?
Have you considered
strengths and assets?
Has what the person might already have
available been fully explored, for example, family
and friends?
Have other routes available to meet needs and achieve outcomes been explored, before considering if a personal budget is needed?
Have you considered the persons personal strengths, informal support, universal and preventative services?
Does the support plan
identify how all of
the eligible needs
identified in
assessment will be
met?
This either could be by:
Reablement;
Drawing on the person’s own strengths and
support/community networks; or
By a personal budget where there is no alternative.
Is this an effective use
of resources
to meet the
individual’s desired
outcomes,
and have all
alternatives been fully
explored?
Effective can be defined as ‘having a positive impact
on wellbeing’. The support plan should balance the
impact upon the wellbeing of the person and their
carer.
Are decisions and
costs based on
local market
conditions and
availability of
resources?
Is the plan sufficient
and does the plan
allow for a
contingency
A contingency plan may include some flexibility in
the personal budget; but should also consider other
resources available to that individual.
West Sussex County Council Adults’ Services
Support Planning (S.25 Care Act 2014): practice guidance
Author: Greg Slay, Adult Social Care Improvement and Quality Team
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Is the support plan
sustainable?
Will the plan work longer term as well as
considering short- term outcomes. For example,
if a carer wishes to use much
of the personal budget up-front, are they able to sustain the caring role throughout the rest of the year without support and what is their contingency plan? Sustainability of plans should be openly discussed with both carers and cared-for individuals.
Is the person managing the budget clear about
their responsibilities in this respect?
Is the support plan safe?
Is positive risk-taking enabled including the
person having choice and control over
decisions made?
In hospital discharge scenarios, there should be
an expectation that opportunities for positive risk
taking will be reviewed at a later date (that is,
3-6 weeks after discharge).
Is the support plan
proportionate to the
individual needs,
circumstances and
outcomes desired?
How will the impact on
the person’s
outcomes and
wellbeing be
measured at review
and has this been
agreed with the
person?
4.4 Members of the public will increasingly use West Sussex Connect to
Support (https://www.westsussexconnecttosupport.org) to find and purchase services. This website is also a tool which should be utilised in
support planning by all staff.
Any service provider that does not have a page/presence on the West Sussex Connect to Support website
(https://www.westsussexconnecttosupport.org) but is already being
commissioned by Adults’ Services should be encouraged to create a website presence there. Information on setting up a presence on the
website is available, by clicking on the ‘Information for providers and local groups’ tile on the home page.
West Sussex County Council Adults’ Services
Support Planning (S.25 Care Act 2014): practice guidance
Author: Greg Slay, Adult Social Care Improvement and Quality Team
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4.5 The following support plan sign-off arrangements have been
agreed for Adults’ Services:
• For Independent Living Service – team managers and supervisors will sign off support plans. The sign off is optional in
assessment but mandatory in support plan and review. For Social Work - Team managers (and nominated reps) will sign
off the assessment and the indicative personal budget, ensuring assessment is evidence-based and the Resource Allocation System
calculator is completed according to evidenced need.
• If the proposed support plan is over the agreed limit of £342 (Area teams) or, over £500, or over 10% of indicative personal budget if
that budget is under £500 (in Learning Disability teams or Physical Impairment), then this should go to a senior manager or panel for a
decision. • If the proposed support plan is under the agreed limit this will be
signed-off by the support broker manager for area teams, or team manager in Learning Disability teams, and the relevant area Lead
Social Care Professional in Adult Mental Health Services - as long as the principles set out above have been followed.
Contingency arrangements should be part of the support plan. Support broker managers can agree short-term variations of up to
£50 – they will need to clarify this variation in amount - per week on only one occasion per year. If a further variation is required then the
person will need to be re-assessed.
• Sign-offs need to be timely and should not delay either the person receiving the support they need or the service providers receiving
due payments. The personal budget will not be confirmed until the support plan is
signed-off.
4.6 Individuals can choose to receive their personal budget as either a Council Managed Budget, as a Direct Payment or as a combination of
both. For further information please refer to the Direct Payments practice guidance accessible in the Professional Zone on the West Sussex Connect
to Support website (https://www.westsussexconnecttosupport.org).
5. Respite and replacement Care
5.1 This should be discussed with the individual and carer including the respite/replacement care options available/required and how many
nights/sessions are required. When nights and banding are entered onto the support plan this will calculate how much budget is left.
5.2 If respite is being purchased, a ‘Short Stay Basic Charge’ (SSBC)
form must be sent to the individual to sign. SSBC covers a financial year.
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Support Planning (S.25 Care Act 2014): practice guidance
Author: Greg Slay, Adult Social Care Improvement and Quality Team
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This can be created in the support plan workstep on Mosaic, and once
completed must be uploaded there. If the person already has a package of care from Adults’ Services then staff should check that a SSBC form has
already been signed and uploaded. This can be recorded on the support plan.
5.3 Where replacement care is to meet a carer’s eligible needs this
should be captured in both the adult’s and carer’s own support plans; however the budget to provide the care is only included in one plan.
6. Contingencies and accruals
6.1 Individuals can build up (accrue) money in their personal budget to
make sure they are able to cover unexpected expenses that meet their agreed outcomes. However, accruals must be agreed by the council.
Currently, if the person has more than eight weeks of their personal budget allocation unspent, the support broker will look into the reasons
why this has happened.
6.2 Individuals who choose to receive a direct payment can accrue up to eight weeks’ worth of their personal budget. Any more than this will be
regarded as surplus. They will be expected to return surplus money to the council. For adults with a council-managed budget this can be taken back
centrally.
7. Charging for arranging and administrating a care package 7.1 Individuals who have savings and investments above the ‘upper
capital limit’ are regarded as ‘self-funders’. Individuals who choose not to disclose their financial circumstances, or decline to undergo a financial
assessment are assumed to have savings and investments above this amount. The current applicable ‘upper capital limit’ is set out in the
Charging Policy, available in the Professional Zone on the West Sussex Connect to Support website.
7.2 Following the implementation of the Care Act, self-funders with
eligible social care needs can request Adults’ Services to arrange, and to carry out the on-going administration of a care package on their behalf.
West Sussex County Council charge fees for this service. The current fees are shown in the Charging Policy, available in the Professional Zone on
the West Sussex Connect to Support website.
There are three parts to this service:
1. Searching the market to find a provider service(s) able to meet the
individuals care needs (a one off arrangement fee is charged);
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2. Carrying out the ongoing administration of paying provider services’
invoices on behalf of the individual (a weekly administration fee is charged); and
3. Updating or altering the package of care received by the individual (further one off arrangement fees are charged for each alteration).
7.3 The fees attached to these services are updated every financial
year and published in the current version of the ‘Your life, Your choice’ information booklet.
7.4 These fees apply to all individuals who have savings and investments
above the ‘upper capital limit’ - including those with learning disabilities or
from a mental health background (unless S.117 Mental Health Act applies: for information on this read our policy and practice guidance on
S.117 Mental Health Act, available in the Professional Zone on the West Sussex Connect to Support website).
7.5 Individuals in long term residential or nursing care are not liable for
the fees described in 7.2 regardless of their financial circumstance.
7.6 The ‘AS164 Agreement to Pay a Charge’ form explains the financial threshold and brokerage fees and should be signed by individuals at the
point of first contact with Adults’ Services, with the full signed document being uploaded to their Mosaic case record.
7.7 Self-funders who do not have the mental capacity to consent to the
brokerage fee (or to arrange their own care) will not have the brokerage fees applied unless, or until, an appropriate person has been appointed to
manage their finances. An appropriate person to manage such individuals’ finances includes someone appointed with:
Enduring Power of Attorney for Property and Affairs (EPA) – preferably
now registered with the Office of the Public Guardian*; Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) for property and affairs;
property and affairs Deputyship under the Court of Protection; any other person dealing with that person’s affairs (e.g. someone who
has been given appointeeship by the Department for Work and Pensions for the purpose of benefits payments); or
the Financial Adult Safeguarding team once Deputyship has been given
by the Court of Protection.
*For more information, visit: https://www.gov.uk/enduring-power-attorney-duties
The fact that a customer is mentally incapacitated to make certain
specific decisions must not be taken to mean that no charge will be applicable.
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7.9 Self-funders whose care package consists of just a day care service only accessible via adults’ services (for example a West Sussex County
Council in house day care centre, or a Shaw Trust day care centre) will only be charged the weekly admin fees (and not the one off arrangement
fee).
7.10 Arrangement and administration fees will not be charged for any post-Community Reablement Service provision.
7.11 Self-funders are not able to access rates which West Sussex County
Council has agreed with service providers as part of their framework or
contractual agreements. Instead self-funders will pay rates set privately by the service providers – the service we offer involves contacting service
providers and scoping the rates they will charge the adult. The service will then be purchased via the electronic recording system (Mosaic) via the
variable Commissioned Dom Care - Private Rates Element.
7.12 Some individuals will have already begun receiving a package of care from Adults’ Services before they are identified as a self-funder. In
these situations the brokerage fees should be back dated to the start date of their service (fees can only be backdated to April 2015). If these
individuals choose to request Adults’ Services to continue administrating their package of care then they should be moved to private rates going
forward.
7.13 Individuals choosing to use the ongoing administration service will
be invoiced the cost of their personal budget. This may prove to be unequal to the actual cost of their ongoing care. An annual reconciliation
process will result in individuals having any over payment returned and any underpayment invoiced to them.
7.14 Failure to pay charges for the package of care or arrangement and
administration fees will be followed up through the usual debt recovery route. Guidance on debt recovery is included in the Charging Policy,
available in the Professional Zone on the West Sussex Connect to Support website.
8. Recording in the support plan
Deprivations of a person’s liberty
8.1 Before completing a support plan for a person who lacks mental
capacity to make decisions about their care and support needs, consideration needs to be given to whether the support plan will lead to a
possible deprivation of liberty according to the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
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Support Planning (S.25 Care Act 2014): practice guidance
Author: Greg Slay, Adult Social Care Improvement and Quality Team
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The “acid test” immediately below (UK Supreme Court, March 2014
[UKSC 19]) determines if someone is being deprived of their liberty:
‘Is the person subject both to continuous supervision and control and not free to leave?’
8.2 This test applies to anyone who lacks the mental capacity to make
decisions about their care and support needs whilst in hospital or living in residential care. The “Managing Authority” (the service provider) has a
duty to refer to the County Council’s Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards team for a specialist assessment and the granting of a Standard
Authorisation. In all other cases please familiarize yourself with Appendix 1 to this document.
8.3 For area teams, the majority of cases where the Deprivation of
Liberty Safeguards might apply will be dealt with as managed exceptions. Support brokers will need to be aware of the issues related to the
Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards and refer back to the social work team if they are concerned that a support plan they are developing will lead to a
deprivation of liberty occurring.
8.4 Mental health and learning disability teams need to consider possible
deprivation of liberties occurring and take appropriate action when they are developing support plans.
8.5 If at any stage in the support planning process you have concerns about the person’s mental capacity please liaise with the allocated social
care worker.
Eligible needs
8.6 The support plan must include a record of how all eligible needs are
to be met - even if not met by funded services.
8.7 Learning Disability teams may also use health interventions to meet
eligible needs and Mental Health teams only use the support plan where funding/purchasing is required, and if this is not required should use the
care planning options on CareNotes as usual.
8.8 In summary, the following diagram summarises what key elements
of the support plan which should be recorded:
Sign-off
8.9 Practitioners must take all reasonable steps to reach agreement with
the person for whom the plan is being prepared. Wherever possible, local
authority sign-off should occur when the person, any third party involved in the preparation of the plan and the local authority have agreed on the
factors within the plan, including the final personal budget amount (which
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may have been subject to change during the planning process), and how
the needs in question will be met. This is a key part of the planning process and the agreement should be recorded and a copy placed within
the plan. Where an independent advocate has been involved, they should not be asked to sign-off the plan – this is the responsibility of the local
authority.
Timescales 8.10 Whilst there is no defined timescale in statute for the completion of
the support planning process, the Care Act Statutory Guidance (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/care-act-statutory-guidance)
states the plan should be completed in a timely fashion, proportionate to the needs to and not unduly delaying the assessed needs being met.
Appeals Process
8.11 The approach developed specifically by Adults’ Services is used by
the person if they wish to appeal against the decisions reached, or about the level of choice the individual has had about their support plan, or
regarding their personal budget (the amount of money allocated to the adult to meet their outcomes).
8.12 Upon completion, the local authority must give a copy of the final
plan - which should be in an accessible format - to the person for whom the plan is intended, any other person they request to receive a copy of it,
and their independent advocate if they have one (and the person agrees).
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Appendix 1
Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards in the Community
As a result of a Judgment in the UK Supreme Court in March 2014 [UKSC
19], arrangements have now been put in place for the Court of Protection to receive applications from local authorities in respect of people who are
believed to be deprived of their liberty whilst living at home or in supported accommodation - but who are not in care homes or hospitals.
The County Council has developed a comprehensive toolkit containing a
number of documents which can be used when preparing an application to
the Court of Protection for formal authorisation of a Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards in the Community. The Toolkit has a variety of checklists,
background information factsheets, blank precedents and redacted examples of the relevant forms.
This Toolkit was devised by Legal Services, in conjunction with Adults’
Services, and can be accessed on Sharepoint.
To whom do these additional Safeguards apply?
Known as the ‘streamlined process’ these arrangements only apply where the following criteria are met:
1. People are aged 16 years* or older; and
2. They lack the mental capacity to consent to (make the decision about)
their care arrangements; and 3. They receive care in their own homes, or in supported living
arrangements, or in residential schools, or through the Shared Lives scheme; and
4. They are being deprived of their liberty as a result of those arrangements; and
5. The arrangements in place are imputable to the State (that is, the local authority has had some involvement with the making of the
arrangements or in monitoring the person’s care there).
*People aged 16-18 only may be covered by other legal arrangements: contact Legal Services for more information.
What is a deprivation of liberty in such cases?
The UK Supreme Court has ruled that ‘deprivation of liberty’ relates to the degree of supervision and control of a person’s life by others, and where
that person is not free to leave the arrangement of their own choosing.
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How does the Court of Protection deal with such cases?
In such situations, presented with the relevant evidence (a current assessment of a person’s mental incapacity, and a description of the
control arrangements in place), the Court of Protection will grant an authorisation of that Deprivation of Liberty for the person. The Court will
sit in private to review pre-submitted evidence and make this decision without the need for the person themselves to be made a party to the
proceedings or for a face to face hearing to take place.
The ‘streamlined process’ described above has developed as a result of a case brought to the attention of the Court of Protection in England and
Wales (Re: X [2014] EWCOP 25). It relies on the full and frank disclosure
of all the relevant facts and other matters that could have an impact on the Court’s decision.
The ‘streamlined process’ is also designed to enable Judges in the Court of
Protection to quickly and easily pick out cases that are potentially contentious. A hearing will only be required where the Court of Protection
is not satisfied with the evidence submitted to it in advance or has a query about whether the proposed care arrangements are in the person’s
best interests.
What about the other Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards?
If you are working with a person who is living in a care home (or nursing home) or is in hospital, and they lack the mental capacity to make the
decision about their care arrangements there and they are deprived of
their liberty, they come under the main provisions of the Mental Capacity Act’s Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. You must refer that person to the
West Sussex Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards Team, based at Centenary House in Durrington, and not use the streamlined process.
How do I find out more? To find our more about the ‘streamlined process’ for Deprivations of
Liberty in the Community, read the detailed guidance on the County Council’s Sharepoint site. When you have read that guidance, speak with
your line manager in the first instance so that you can work out the next steps required.
If you are still unsure what needs to happen next, please contact Gemma
Knowles in Legal Services, or one of her other colleagues there who deal
with matters relating to Adults’ Services.