DoLS only apply in care homes and hospitals, and to those aged over 18!

Deprivation of Liberty

• The process requires a minimum of 2 assessors.
• The identity of the assessors is prescribed by law and regulation.
• One assessor, the best interests assessor (BIA), must be a registered social worker, nurse, occupational therapist or psychologist, of at least 2 years post-registration experience.
• The other assessor, the mental health assessor, must be a doctor with significant experience of psychiatric practice.
• Both assessors must complete and pass specific training for the DoLS assessor role. The DoLS mental health assessor training is available for suitably qualified doctors on the HEE e-Learning for Healthcare (e-LfH) Hub.
• Both assessors must undergo relevant refresher training annually, which is generally provided by the local supervisory bodies.

The BIA explores whether the proposed deprivation of liberty is both necessary to prevent harm to the person, and a proportionate response to the likelihood of that harm and how serious it would be. Note how this reflects the requirements for any restraint to be lawful under the wider MCA (s.6).

Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) will replace DoLS with a broader, more flexible, rights‑focused system that applies to anyone aged 16+ across all care settings, requiring lack of capacity, mental disorder, and necessary‑and‑proportionate arrangements to lawfully deprive someone of liberty.

Implications for practice

• work of human rights law and the MCAProfessionals must focus on making practice decisions within the wider framework of human rights law and the MCA
• Record why any apparently less restrictive options have not been pursuedRecord why any apparently less restrictive options have not been pursued
• For a young person aged 16 or 17 authority to deprive them of their liberty can come from the Court of Protection
• For a decision about anyone aged 16 or above who lacks capacity, disputes between professionals and relatives must go to the Court of Protection

DoLS give no right to administer treatment in the absence of capacitated consent

It is important to note that, unlike detention under the MHA, DoLS give no right to administer treatment in the absence of capacitated consent. Treatment of a person subject to a DoLS authorisation must be decided through the best interests process described in session Best interests (783-004).

No place in DoLS for terms like 'permitted leave'

The rule with DoLS is that the authorisation, if granted, allows for the person to be deprived of their liberty if this is necessary and proportionate, but it never means that the person must be deprived of their liberty. If the person regains capacity, they can no longer be deprived of their liberty (for example while waiting for the local authority to terminate the authorisation). If a holiday with relatives appears to be in their best interests, then the presence of an authorisation does not mean this cannot happen.