The Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) and where they stand

What are the Liberty Protection Safeguards?

The Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 would replace DoLS with the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS), in a new Schedule AA1 to the MCA. They'd cover people aged 16 and over who lack capacity to consent to arrangements that deprive them of liberty, in any setting, including their own home (Sch AA1 para 2).

A responsible body would authorise the arrangements: the hospital manager for an NHS hospital, the ICB for NHS continuing healthcare, and otherwise the council (Sch AA1 para 6). An Approved Mental Capacity Professional would review the case if it's reasonable to believe the person doesn't want to live or be cared for there. The same applies if the care is mainly in an independent hospital (para 24).

In place of the six DoLS assessments there'd be three conditions, settled by determinations (Sch AA1 paras 13, 21-22). The person lacks capacity to consent to the arrangements, has a mental disorder, and the arrangements are necessary to prevent harm to them and proportionate.

Covering 16 and 17-year-olds would have filled the gap that Re D exposed. See children and young people.

Liberty Protection Safeguards vs DoLS

How an LPS authorisation would work: step by step

1. The responsible body checks that the arrangements give rise to a deprivation of liberty. The person must be 16 or over, lack capacity to consent to them, and have a mental disorder (Sch AA1 paras 2, 18).
2. Assessments support three determinations: lack of capacity, mental disorder, and that the arrangements are necessary and proportionate. An earlier capacity or mental disorder assessment can be relied on where that's reasonable (para 21(8)).
3. The responsible body consults the person, anyone they've named, carers, any attorney or deputy, and any appropriate person or IMCA. The main aim is to find out the person's wishes and feelings (para 23).
4. Someone not involved in the person's day-to-day care or treatment carries out a pre-authorisation review. It must be an Approved Mental Capacity Professional where the person seems not to want the arrangements, or the care is mainly in an independent hospital (para 24).
5. The responsible body authorises the arrangements and keeps an authorisation record, including a programme for reviewing them (paras 27-28).
6. It lasts up to 12 months, can then be renewed for up to 12 months, and after that for up to 3 years at a time (paras 29, 32).

The care home manager's role under LPS

For care home arrangements, the responsible body could ask the care home manager to do much of the work. The manager would make sure the determinations and consultation are done, and give the responsible body a written statement with the evidence (Sch AA1 paras 17, 19-20).

That route is only for people aged 18 or over (para 20(1)(a)). The responsible body would still decide, and a pre-authorisation review would still be needed (para 19).

Representation under LPS

The responsible body would appoint an IMCA if the person has capacity to ask for one and does. It would also appoint one if they lack capacity to consent to being represented, unless that isn't in their best interests (Sch AA1 para 42).

That duty falls away where there's an appropriate person: someone suitable who consents to represent and support them, and doesn't care for them in a professional capacity (para 42(5)). An appropriate person could have an IMCA's support too (para 43).

LPS and the Mental Health Act

Part 7 of Schedule AA1 keeps the same dividing line as Schedule 1A does for DoLS. LPS couldn't authorise arrangements for someone detained under the MHA. Nor could it be used for a patient in hospital for treatment of mental disorder who objects and could be detained under s2 or s3 (Sch AA1 paras 45-52).

Objection would be judged the same way, from their behaviour, wishes, feelings, views, beliefs and values (para 52). The current rules are on MHA or MCA.

Why were the Liberty Protection Safeguards proposed?

DoLS were overwhelmed after Cheshire West. The Law Commission found that only 43% of the 195,840 referrals in England in 2015-16 were completed that year. Only 29% of those were completed within the 21-day limit (quoted in AGNI, para 104).

LPS was meant to be simpler, built into care planning, and to reach every setting. It would also let assessments be reused, or last longer, for people whose condition won't change (DHSC, October 2025).

Where LPS stands in October 2026

Implementation was postponed in 2020 because of Covid, then again in April 2023, beyond the life of that Parliament. In October 2025 DHSC announced a joint consultation with the Ministry of Justice for the first half of 2026, covering LPS and a revised MCA Code.

The consultation hasn't launched. On 13 October 2026 DHSC said it was still assessing what AGNI means for LPS, and ADASS has asked for a decision on whether LPS goes ahead at all.

AGNI weakens the case for LPS. The DoLS backlog that LPS was built to clear came largely from Cheshire West's low threshold. Only the 2019 Act's power to make regulations is in force; Schedule AA1 itself isn't.

The 2022 consultation and draft Code

The last full picture of LPS is the 2022 consultation. It came with a draft MCA Code that merged the LPS guidance into the main Code, and six sets of draft regulations (DHSC, 2022).

DHSC has since said that consultation didn't lead to any changes (DHSC, October 2025). The draft Code shows how LPS might work, but it has no legal force.

What to watch for

• The consultation, from DHSC and the Ministry of Justice, on GOV.UK.
• A decision on whether LPS goes ahead, which ADASS has asked for.
• A revised MCA Code, tied to the LPS consultation. The 2007 Code has never been revised.
• More DHSC guidance on AGNI, which DHSC has promised, with case studies.

Until then, treat the 2022 draft LPS Code as a possible future, not as law.

What it means for you now

Work to DoLS and the Court of Protection, using the AGNI test. Don't cite the 2022 draft Code as authority.

For exams, know LPS as proposed reform: 16 and over, any setting, responsible bodies, Approved Mental Capacity Professionals, and three conditions in place of six assessments. Know too that it isn't in force.