Mental Capacity Act 2005

Why might it be of interest?

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) is relevant to all of us – whether we believe our young person has capacity to make their own decisions or not.  A person is not deemed to have capacity or to not have capacity as a blanket status.  A person can have capacity to make some decisions but not others or they may be able to make decisions some of the time but not at other times.

It is for that reason that we should all have some familiarity with the Mental Capacity Act.  To ensure that our young person is supported to make the decisions they can make and to ensure that decisions they can’t make are made in their best interests.

The principles behind the MCA are not complicated but the application of those principles can become complicated and especially if the people involved are not conversant with the act and its accompanying Code of Practice.

You might also like to have a look at the Code of Practice:  https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5f6cc6138fa8f541f6763295/Mental-capacity-act-code-of-practice.pdf

and other documents on the information hub from Ruils, hft and Mencap.