Social Work News Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) – Latest Developments

How DoLS became LPS.

Article 5 of the Human Rights Act states that ‘everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be deprived of his or her liberty [unless] in accordance with a procedure prescribed in law’.

The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) is the procedure prescribed in law when it is necessary to deprive of their liberty a resident or patient who lacks capacity to consent to their care and treatment in order to keep them safe from harm.

In July 2018, the government published a Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill, which passed into law in May 2019.  It replaces Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) with a scheme known as the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS).

Find out more about the new scheme and the key changes here.