OFFICIAL STATISTICS- Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, England, 2024 to 2025: statistical commentary

The official statistics provide findings for England from the Mental Capacity Act 2005, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) data collection for the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.

DoLS are a legal framework applying to individuals who lack the mental capacity to consent to the arrangements for their care.

Where such care may amount to a ‘deprivation of liberty’ the arrangements are independently assessed to ensure they are in the best interests of the individual concerned.

The data is collected from councils with adult social services responsibilities (CASSRs), who are the supervisory bodies for authorising deprivations of liberty of adults in care homes and hospitals. For ease of reading and consistency ‘local authority’ will be used subsequently to refer to CASSRs. All 153 local authorities provided data for 2024 to 2025.

Read the commentary here