Heat-health alert for East of England

A red heat-health warning has been issued by the UKHSA. The warning is in effect from the morning of 24 June 2026 through to the night of 25 Jun 2026. Please ensure you keep up to date with weather reports reports and plan accordingly.

UKHSA weather warning guidance

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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Supports the Integrated Passenger Transport Unit (IPTU) to deliver statutory services including:

  • Home to school transport
  • Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Transport
  • Adult Social Care Transport

​​​​​​​Additional non-statutory services include

  • Local Bus
  • Park and Ride
  • English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS)
  • Sustainable Transport
  • Mainstream – A child attends a mainstream school within their catchment area. They are eligible for free transport to and from this school as a result of meeting criteria (e.g. live a certain distance from school that cannot be walked). The criteria differs for Primary & Secondary schools.
  • Special Education Need (SEN) – A child attends a mainstream or special educational needs school and their disability / individual needs mean they cannot walk to school & therefore will qualify for free transport through their Education & Health Care Plan. This could be a catchment school or a specialist school anywhere in or out of the county. The school placement is based on specific need. Often additional support is required for SEN Transport (single passenger travel, Passenger Assistants, wheelchair accessible vehicles, other specialist equipment).
  • Post-16 – A child aged 16-18 that attends a mainstream school / college and lives more than 3 miles away is entitled to transport at a charge of £900 per year (£450 for low income families).
  • Social Care Children – A child is under the care of the Local Authority. Transport is arranged for contact with family members or to and from school. The volume is small.

This refers to an Adult aged 18+ who is entitled to Local Authority funded social care. Transport to and from care / community settings may form part of the care plan in order to meet the individuals outcomes. 

Last updated: 14/10/2024