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 judgment 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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Essex County Council spent approximately £773m in the 2025/26 financial year on adult care services. It should be noted that a proportion of this spend will be with providers who do not have a base within the administrative area of Essex.

Detailed below is the budgeted Adult Social Care Spend within each market for 2026/27.

Residential Markets         
Markets Spend per annum 2026/27 budget £m
Older People 215.9
Working Aged 128.2
Mental Health 15.2
Supported Living 129.3
Extra Care 5.1
Community Markets
Markets Spend per annum 2026/27 budget £m
Equipment Services 16.4
Reablement Services 30.1
Domiciliary Care 174.1
Day Opportunities 28.9
Direct Payments 79.0

 

Last updated: 01/04/2026