The Supreme Court's judgment on deprivation of liberty

You may be aware that the Supreme Court has recently issued a judgment which significantly changes the legal approach to determining whether a person is deprived of their liberty. The judgement can be seen here A Reference by the Attorney General for Northern Ireland of a devolution issue under paragraph 34 o….

We would encourage you to familiarise yourselves with the judgment and carefully consider the implications for your services and practice. Please see the following links for further information: CQC statement on the Supreme Court's judgment on deprivation of liberty - Care Quality Commission and 2026-UKSC-16-Summary-for-website.pdf.

We ask that you refer to this updated position when making any new referrals to the DoLS team.  In addition, as the change came into effect immediately from 2 June, please review any recent DoLS referrals you have made. You should consider whether, in light of this revised approach, any of these referrals may no longer be appropriate.

We hope this offers reassurance whilst we wait for additional National guidance to be disseminated.  At this stage we don’t have further information, but if you have a specific query, you can contact the MCA DoLS Duty Team at Dolforms@essex.gov.uk

Essex County Council - Provider Hub
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We are pleased to introduce our Market Position Statement for children, young people, and families in Essex. This information sets out the services commissioned by Children and Families Services for children in care in Essex. Providing a clear message around future needs by setting out information on the different services commissioned and how demand may change in the coming years. Along with the types of service provision we may need to meet it. Thus, informing more effective commissioning based on strong relationships with providers.

We are publishing this information on a website for ease of updating in the future. Work on making the information interactive so providers can access the specific service areas of interest. This data uses May 2023 as a baseline, but we will refresh the data later in early 2024. 

We are working in demanding and challenging times. This statement comes when there are different paper and legislative changes around Children and Family services. An ambitious Essex County Council levelling up strategy and following a pandemic which has affected the physical and emotional wellbeing of individuals and disrupted family stability.  

We want all children and young people, but especially those who are vulnerable, to have access to good education, to lead safe, happy, healthy lives. The key outcomes we want to deliver are:

  • Resilient Children and Young People
  • Stable and thriving Families
  • Inclusive and supportive schools and communities
  • Safe and accessible neighbourhoods

The impact to children and families as a result of COVID and the Cost-of-Living Crisis continues to cause pressure to our vulnerable families across Essex. 

In 2022 the independent review of children’s social care in England, the Right support, right place, right time, Government consultation on the SEND and alternative provision system in and Children’s and Young People Social Care Market Study, by the Competition and Markets Authority, highlights the changes required to ensure the appropriate services are available to children in Essex. 

Essex has committed to work with children, families, providers and partners to shape the future services delivered to children in care across Essex. We want to work with all parties to face and tackle these issues together.  This will include further work over 2023 to understand the views of our market and those receiving services and care. 

We would welcome your views on how useful the information is and the format for presenting the data as we continue to develop the range of information we can share. Please refer to our contact section for further information. 

Last updated: 28/03/2024
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