Latest news with #MentalCapacityAct
Business Mayor
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Mayor
In depth: Law Society private client conference
One topic dominated this year's private client conference at Chancery Lane – the Law Commission's long-awaited report on wills reform, which was published a few days earlier. The report has been long in the making, as law commissioner Professor Nick Hopkins (pictured) explained during the day's final session. The commission was asked in 2015 to do a scoping report. Following a consultation, the government asked it to pause work and concentrate on weddings. Wills was picked up again post-Covid with a supplementary consultation paper in 2023. 'At the risk of making virtue out of vice, that pause has ultimately been beneficial because attitudes to electronic wills and marriage revoking a will changed in that period of time,' Hopkins said. The commissioner talked through some of the report's key recommendations. Electronic wills should be permitted. The rule that marriage revokes a will should be abolished. The age for making a will should be lowered from 18 to 16. Only the Mental Capacity Act test should apply to the question of testamentary capacity. The courts should be allowed to deem a will valid where the formality requirements have not been fully met but the deceased's intentions are clear. The commission's draft Wills Bill repeals the 1837 act. Most private client practitioners agree that the 1837 act should be replaced with new legislation. However, Stephen Lawson, chair of the Law Society's wills and equity committee, predicted many more court battles if, per the commission's recommendations, judges are empowered to infer undue influence. 'It is one of the most common allegations clients make but one of the most difficult to prove,' he told the conference. On marriage no longer revoking a will, 'you have got to consider the role of cohabitees', Lawson noted. The conference covered other important ground. With probate and estate administration generating the third-highest volume of reports to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and some of the largest and most frequent payments from the compensation fund, the regulator shared examples of best and poor practice during its most recent thematic review. 'We're not just called on to be advisers about the law anymore. There is a huge element of counselling, ethics and morality that pervades the decisions our clients want to make. They do not care about the legals' James Lister, Stevens & Bolton Shortcomings in law firm communications were a big driver of client dissatisfaction, SRA regulatory managers Mel Lothbrok and Siobhan Fennell said. The regulator was surprised to find significant variations in written information given to clients about the estate administration process, given that many people will know little about it. Some firms were providing written information too late in the day, while some regularly exceeded cost estimates without warning clients. Lothbrok and Fennell said clients should receive the best possible information at the outset and firms should have efficient processes for managing costs, with clients being updated right through to the end of the retainer. The regulator is also concerned about compliance with accounts rules. The conference heard that one firm obtained a qualified accountant's report but failed to submit it to the SRA. Another firm did not obtain one for several years. A tip for firms: consider asking your accountant for feedback on the strength of your financial controls to address issues and prevent problems down the line. Read More Confiscation hearing for jailed solicitor adjourned The conference also covered key changes to personal taxation, the complexities of farming families, understanding the Official Solicitor's role in Court of Protection applications, mental capacity assessments and revoking deputyships, and AI. The key takeaway from a session on 'advising modern families' was undoubtedly the fact that in surrogacy, the mother or father are not the legal parents of their child in the jurisdiction of England and Wales if they do not have a parental order. Gender has become another important consideration, the conference heard. James Lister, head of private wealth disputes at Stevens & Bolton, said solicitors are used to drafting and advising on will documents that define beneficiaries by reference to their gender. But 'when you're using protected characteristics to define your beneficiaries, you trespass into dangerous territory'. Lister added: 'We're not just called on to be advisers about the law anymore. There is a huge element of counselling, ethics and morality that pervades the decisions our clients want to make. They do not care about the legals.' If clients are tied to a set of values they do not ascribe to, 'we're creating a large set of problems'. Electronic wills may not arrive soon – the government's full response is expected within 12 months – but as the conference showed, private client specialists have plenty of other issues to focus on in the meantime.
Spectator
14-05-2025
- Health
- Spectator
Has the Royal College of Psychiatrists killed the assisted suicide bill?
How do you make assisted suicide safe? In recent months, a large part of Kim Leadbeater's answer has been to point to the involvement of psychiatrists. Having a psychiatrist sign off each death, Leadbeater said, would 'add expertise'. They would be part of a much-touted 'multidisciplinary' approach. In particular, they would be able to check that applicants met the threshold of the Mental Capacity Act. There's just one problem. The psychiatrists themselves appear to think Leadbeater's bill is a dangerous mess. I'm paraphrasing, of course. But last night's statement from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, in which they identified nine major problems with the legislation and said they 'cannot support' it, is a major blow to the bill's credibility. For one thing, it is a reminder of the amateurishness which has been such a mark of this whole saga. Originally, Leadbeater's bill required a High Court judge to sign off every case. She dropped that requirement under pressure from the Ministry of Justice, who told her it was unworkable. The replacement system, an 'expert panel', has no judges, and none of
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Royal College of Psychiatrists opposes Assisted Dying Bill
The Royal College of Psychiatrists has said it does not support the assisted dying Bill. Dr Lade Smith, its president, said the organisation remained neutral on the principle but had a number of concerns about the legislation in its current form. It found 'a number of issues' including the possibility a terminally ill patient could be suffering from a 'very treatable' mental disorder. Dr Smith said issues including the fact there is currently no requirement to inform family members have been raised 'repeatedly' with parliamentarians but have not yet been addressed. The move is significant because, under the Bill's current stipulations, a panel including a psychiatrist would oversee assisted dying cases. Speaking ahead of the Bill's return to the Commons on Friday, Dr Smith told BBC's Newsnight: 'After extensive consultation and consideration we have concluded that we just cannot support this Bill.' Detailing how a terminal cancer diagnosis could trigger a depressive disorder which could actually be treated, she said: 'People feel like ending their lives. 'But when you treat that depression, that wish to end their life goes. 'So there needs to be a requirement to assess whether or not a person who's wishing to end their life has actually got a mental disorder that could be treated, because that's different to someone who may be deciding to end their life when they don't have a mental disorder.' Dr Smith said 'unmet needs' such as pain, difficulty with their housing, finances and employment may make a patient feel 'lonely and isolated'. In November last year, MPs voted 330 to 275 to legalise assisted dying, in a historic vote. The Government did not support or oppose the Bill, with MPs able to vote according to their conscience. However, since then there have been a number of amendments including the fact applications will no longer be assessed by a High Court judge, but a panel of experts including psychiatrists. So far just two MPs – Lee Anderson and Rupert Lowe – have publicly declared they will change their vote at the next stage. On the fact family members do not have to be informed, Dr Smith said: 'If family members could support, that could change someone's view. 'Frankly as doctors we would like some guidance around whether or not this is that the parliamentarians consider this to be a medical treatment.' She added that the Mental Capacity Act was not designed to assess the capacity of patients in a decision on ending their life as it is 'irreversible'. Elsewhere, the Royal College of GPs also warned its members have real concerns about the implications of the Bill. Of the more than 1,000 who replied to a questionnaire about it sent by the BBC, more than 500 said they were opposed to the Bill. It comes as Scotland moved a step closer to introducing the controversial legislation on Tuesday. MSPs supported the principles of the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill by 70 votes to 56, allowing it to clear its first parliamentary hurdle at Holyrood. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Spectator
14-05-2025
- Health
- Spectator
Now Royal College of Psychiatrists voices opposition to assisted dying
Assisted dying has been a hot topic both north and south of the border this week, as Scottish politicians voted on Tuesday on their version of the euthanasia bill while Kim Leadbeater's legislation will face another round of voting in Westminster on Friday. But in another blow for the Labour MP, now the Royal College of Psychiatrists has voiced its opposition to the bill – citing its concern over 'many, many factors'. Oo er. Speaking to the Beeb's Radio 4 Today programme this morning, the Royal College's Dr Trudi Seneviratne insisted that 'there would be many, many factors in the bill as it stands that would need to be addressed'. She accused the current legislation of turning the role of psychiatrists in the process into a 'tick-box exercise', and added: 'We have up to nine points that we want MPs to consider.' These range from the issue around whether assisted dying would become a 'treatment option', problems with the how the bill would interact with the current Mental Capacity Act and exactly would oversight would need to be in place.
ITV News
08-05-2025
- Politics
- ITV News
'There are others like us': Government considers changing Mental Capacity Act
Care Minister Stephen Kinnock told ITV News the government will consider amending mental health legislation currently going though Parliament, as Political Correspondent Romilly Weeks reports The government is considering changing the law to give families the right to request a mental capacity assessment for a vulnerable loved one, ITV News can reveal. Care Minister Stephen Kinnock held a meeting with cross-party MPs and Fiona Laskaris, a mother who has spent years fighting for the change in law that she believes could have saved her autistic son. Christopher Laskaris was 24 years old when he was murdered in 2016 by a convicted criminal who had been exploiting him. Fiona was repeatedly dismissed for years when she tried to get her son a mental capacity assessment, which establishes whether someone has the ability to make decisions about their own safety and wellbeing, and helps determine what support they may need. "The law as it stands didn't enable me to save my son's life, even though I'd been asking for a proper mental capacity assessment. There was no mechanism for me to do that," Fiona said ahead of the meeting. "So we want to change that. We've got a good amendment lined up and I think it'll probably work. I really, really hope the government will support getting this amendment through so that no one else has to go through what we have." Since ITV News aired Fiona's story and the prime minister's subsequent pledge in the Commons to "look into" the law change, we have been contacted by other families also battling to get mental capacity assessments. Due to the issue being underreported, many said they didn't realise they were not alone in their fight. One mother said she "sobbed uncontrollably", adding: "I thought, there are other people like us." Following the meeting on Wednesday, Care Minister Kinnock told ITV News the government will now consider amending mental health legislation currently going though Parliament. He said: "Mrs Laskaris has absolutely made her points - we absolutely see where she's coming from. Officials will be now taking forward those discussions in greater detail. "Mrs Laskaris has proposed an amendment to the bill. We will absolutely be examining that in greater detail, looking at the purpose of the amendment, but also what effect it might have just to ensure that there aren't unintended consequences." What is the Mental Capacity Act and how could the law change? The Mental Capacity Act was introduced in 2005 in a bid to minimise the number of vulnerable adults being detained unreasonably and indefinitely, and to give them more autonomy over their own care. It states that as a starting point everyone should be presumed to have the capacity to make their own decisions about their own safety and wellbeing, and that assessment should be carried out if their capacity is in doubt. However, research has found that such assessments are either not carried out enough or are not carried out effectively in particular on autistic people, adults with learning disabilities or those with mental health issues, such as bipolar and schizophrenia. Their insistence that they can cope is often taken at face value without considering their past history and relatives' concerns. This means that - as in Christopher Laskaris' case - they are left without the support they need. Fiona and three MPs - the former health secretary Jeremy Hunt (Conservatives), Chris Coghlan (Lib Dems) and Jake Richards (Labour) - are calling for an amendment to the Mental Capacity Act to ensure family members' views are taken into account when deciding if someone needs a mental capacity assessment. They, along with the National Autistic Society, agree the current system is failing autistic adults like Christopher, as well as other adults with learning disabilities and mental health illnesses - at times with catastrophic consequences. They are concerned there are potentially hundreds of preventable deaths per year due to this issue, with recent research finding The Mental Capacity Act was not followed in a quarter of the deaths of autistic people and those with learning disabilities in 2022 alone. Barrister Ian Brownhill, who's a specialist in mental capacity, said decisions around capacity are a problem the courts see time and again. "The issues are vast," he said. "Sometimes it can be something like a predatory marriage where somebody targets someone because they want to get access to their finances. In other cases it's more insipid - it might be something like a drug dealer, or cuckooing, and things like that. "All of these issues start to come to the fore. And one of the key issues in them is whether or not that person has the mental capacity to make a variety of different decisions for themselves in their life." 'I believed he would die' One mother told ITV News that her autistic son has been sectioned after deteriorating for years because the authorities judged that he had capacity to decide that he didn't need any support. Parveen's son would spend day and night in bed not eating or drinking and fought for years to try to get him a mental capacity assessment in the hopes that it would get him the help he desperately needed. "They were assuming he's got capacity and therefore, it's his reasoned decision - if he doesn't want help, he doesn't want support, that's fine by us," she said. "Even though I was providing evidence that that's not the case. He's not well. He doesn't understand the consequences of this. There's no way on earth he would just lie in bed day and night like this deteriorating of his own choice. "I genuinely believed that he would die because he was just being left for months at a time with no support." Asked how she felt when she heard Fiona's story, Parveen said: "I just cried uncontrollably because every quote I read, it was almost like I was telling our story. Those very same things about being dismissed as an over fussy parent - stop interfering, he's an adult, he can make his own decisions. "People would come in and see him in this completely sick state - lying in his bed withering away into this tiny form - but they wouldn't do anything." She added: "As I was reading this [Fiona's] story... I thought, there are other people like us. This tragedy has happened and services could've stopped this from happening. Fiona had raised this time and time again, like I have over 12 years for my son." 'I'm hopeful this terrible thing that happened to Christopher can bring something positive' Fiona and MP Chris Coghlan remain hopeful following the meeting with the government and await to hear next steps. Coghlan said: "We feel we need to see it in legislation because only then will lives be saved. And frankly, Fiona's family hopefully can then finally start the grieving process and feel that some small piece of hope has come out of what happened." Asked what it would mean to her if the law was passed, Fiona said: "Oh, it would just mean so much to know other people wouldn't have to go through this." After years of fighting for justice for her son's death, Fiona said she finally feels like her voice is being heard. "It's incredibly cathartic for me - just being listened to. Shouldn't be like that though, it shouldn't take eight years and an ITV crew to just get what's in the Care Act." She added: "Clearly everyone's in agreement that the status quo is not okay. So I'm really hopeful that this terrible thing that happened to Christopher can bring about something positive." If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, help and support is available:
