8 June 2026 | 13:00-14:00 | Teams
The issue of deprivation of liberty (DoL) causes real problems across the whole health and social care system, with uncertainty sometimes working to compromise appropriate care, and huge financial and staffing resources taken by a system that is nonetheless overwhelmed by the volume of cases, and leaves many thousands of people unlawfully deprived of their liberty, and organisations anxious about the potential liabilities that go with that.
The Supreme Court heard a case in October 2025 that might change this, and we hear that the keenly awaited judgment will be handed down on Tuesday 2 June 2026.
The Attorney General of Northern Ireland made the application to the Supreme Court under the devolution provisions for Northern Ireland as she proposed to adopt in NI a distinct approach: a Code of Practice that would say that someone would not be defined as DoL where they are expressing (in some way) agreement to the arrangements that would otherwise be a DoL (i.e. being under continuous supervision and control and not free to leave), even though they lack capacity to consent to those arrangements. The issues are summarised here… and the Supreme Court’s decision will have an impact nationwide, not only in Northern Ireland.
Are we about to get a radical redrawing of the definition of deprivation of liberty, with a potential huge impact across the whole of health and social care?
Either way, this will this pave the way to the government's planned consultation on the introduction of the Liberty Protection Safeguards, which now looks more feasible to be later this year, depending of course on what the UKSC say.
We will analyse and write up the judgment as soon as it is out, of course.
Join us as we discuss the Supreme Court decision and the implications across health and social care.
