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
People with Mental Health needs will lead fulfilling lives. Services should support recovery and the strengths of the individual
Services need to be creative, innovative and person centred in their solutions to meet a wide range of assessed needs and have the capacity to engage people. Whilst we have a good supply of domiciliary provision it is the innovative practice that is often overlooked
Domiciliary services should be enabling and focus wider than personal care: assisting, enabling and supporting people to learn new skills.
Staffing needs to be diverse and represent the needs of the client group.
For the most complex people services require specialist mental health training.
| Market Quality | Market Supply | ECC Demand |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate | Moderate | Stable |
 |
|
 |
| ECC Ambition | Market Workforce | Market Maturity |
| Manage Supply | Moderate | Evolving |
 |
|
 |
ECC rating of the market, assessed on the 30th September 2024.
The market currently focuses too much on maintenance of the status quo.
Packages are sourced primarily through the live at home contract and many are not specialist mental health providers.
There are some people who have complex needs who are supported by specialist mental health providers.
| Essex Market | |
| No. Providers | 232 |
| Total No. Providers of Adults receiving Domiciliary Care | 9,698 |
| % providers CQC rated Good or Outstanding | 69% |
| No. Providers entering the market since 1.April 2023 | 17 |
| No. Providers exiting the market since 1.April 2023 | 7 |
| Essex ASC Market (ECC Funded) | |
| No. Adults funded by ECC receiving Domiciliary Care | 192 |
| Commissioned Hours per week of domiciliary care funded by ECC | 2,830.25 |
| % ECC funded Domiciliary care placements CQC rated Good or Outstanding | 82% |
| Framework Utilisation | 46% |
| Essex ASC Market - Sourcing | |
| Average Framework Rate per hour | £26.06 |
| Average Spot Rate per hour | £27.45 |
| Contracted Placement per month | 6 |
| Spot Placements per month | 2 |
| % Admissions into Domiciliary Care CQC rated Good or Outstanding | 82% |
| No. Adults on Unsourced Packages List on 1.April 2023 | 0 |
| No. Hours on Unsourced Packages List on 1.April 2023 | 0 |
The information shown in the table(s) above is correct as of 31st March 2025.
Data in this section has been based on those Domiciliary Care Providers who according to CQC support adults with Mental Health.
Information in the above table for sourcing is based on activity between 31st December 2024 and 31st March 2025
Services are able to keep people safe, but ECC still has too much traditional service provision. Generally, services struggle to motivate the person to take more control.
Staffing is not currently matched to the person and is not necessarily representative of the person’s needs.
Services need to be more creative and innovative.
Limited impact due to low volume overall but a handful of delayed starts particularly in areas which are more geographically remote
Current market risks:
ECC are currently looking to review the current services and then plan an approach to secure more progressive services that will help and enable people to recover, working with predetermined support plans to avoid dependency.