Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards

Schedule A1 to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 applies where a 'detained resident' — defined as a person 'detained in a hospital or care home ... for the purpose of being given care or treatment ... in circumstances which amount to deprivation of the person's liberty' — is the subject of a standard or urgent authorisation. Where those conditions are met, 'the managing authority of the hospital or care home may deprive P of his liberty by detaining him.' A standard authorisation can only be given if the relevant person meets six qualifying requirements set out in Part 3 of the Schedule: the age requirement, the mental health requirement, the mental capacity requirement, the best interests requirement, the eligibility requirement, and the no refusals requirement.

The best interests requirement is central to the safeguard. Paragraph 16 provides that the relevant person meets it only if it 'is in the best interests of the relevant person for him to be a detained resident', and, crucially, that 'in order to prevent harm to the relevant person, it is necessary for him to be a detained resident' and that detention is 'a proportionate response' to the likelihood and seriousness of that harm. Before a standard authorisation can be given, the supervisory body must obtain a set of assessments including a mental health assessment and a best interests assessment, the latter being 'an assessment of whether the relevant person meets the best interests requirement.'