About the programme

The Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) were introduced by the government through the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 and will replace the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) in autumn 2023 or in spring 2024.

Ahead of the transition from DoLS, and to help health and care practitioners with LPS implementation, Health Education England has developed a short animation, to be followed by a more detailed elearning programme about LPS and other resources. The resources will be available on the elearning for healthcare Hub several months before the implementation date, when that is announced.

What will the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) do?

Like DoLS, LPS will protect the rights of people who use health and care services not to be deprived of their liberty without a proper legal process and rights to challenge.

They will provide these important human rights protections to people aged 16 and above who

• are or need to be deprived of their liberty to enable care or treatment and 
• lack the relevant mental capacity to consent to their care and treatment arrangements.

LPS are designed to be simpler and more streamlined than DoLS and embedded into existing care planning. This means vulnerable people will access the vital protections they need more quickly. The new system will also put the person at the centre. It will do this by working as part of the wider care-planning process and by introducing an explicit duty to consult with the person, and those interested in their welfare, to establish their wishes and feelings about the proposed arrangements.

As well as extending their protection to young people aged 16 and 17, like the rest of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA), a further key change for LPS is the extension of the scheme to community settings. These include supported living or the person’s own home, settings where previously an application would have been made to the court of protection.

LPS also creates new roles as Responsible Bodies, for NHS Trusts and Integrated Care Boards (which are taking over from clinical commissioning groups).

For the first year LPS authorisations will run alongside existing DoLS ones, until these naturally end. Practitioners across health and care should, however, continue to carry out learning on DoLS where required until LPS is implemented.

The LPS scheme is an integral part of the MCA. Practitioners should ensure they have a good understanding of the MCA, including its five principles and its foundation in human rights-based practice, as an essential basis for future learning on LPS. The HEE elearning for healthcare MCA programme is an accessible and straightforward resource for MCA learning.

Liberty Protection Safeguards Animation

Primary and secondary audiences

All workers in health and social care with people aged 16 and over who might lack mental capacity to make their own decisions about care and treatment.

More information

Further information on the introduction of LPS can be found on gov.uk.

To stay up to date with the latest information on progress towards the implementation of LPS, please email lps.cop@dhsc.gov.uk to sign up to their newsletter