Surge in Deprivation of Liberty Court Applications Reaches Record Highs

In the first quarter of 2024, the Court of Protection (CoP) in England saw a record-breaking number of deprivation of liberty applications. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) reported 2,022 applications from January to March, a 30% increase from the same period last year.

DoLS applications in England continue to increase, with 126,995 authorisations in 2022-23, up from 105,225 in 2020-21.

The surge in CoP applications and DoLS cases has put immense pressure on local authorities and the broader social care and health system. To alleviate these pressures, in 2019 the government proposed to introduce the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS), designed to provide a more streamlined alternative. The implementation of the LPS faced repeated delays and was postponed indefinitely last year. What now for the Labour government?

The original article can be found here: https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2024/07/01/deprivation-of-liberty-court-application-numbers-hit-record-high/