Mental Capacity Act

Do you have an illness, injury or disability that may cause you difficulties in making decisions? Do you care for, work with, or know someone who has difficulties in making decisions? Do you want to plan ahead in case you are unable to make important decisions for yourself in the future?

There is a new law that can help:

The Mental Capacity Act 2005

Every day we make decisions about lots of things in our lives. The ability to make decisions is called mental capacity. People may have difficulties making some decisions either all or some of the time. This could be because they have:

• a learning disability
• dementia
• a mental health problem
• a head injury or a stroke

And any of us might plan ahead in case we lack mental capacity in the future, because of an accident for example.

The Mental Capacity Act will come into force in 2007. It will generally only affect people aged 16 or over and provides a statutory framework to empower and protect people who may lack capacity to make some decisions for themselves. It makes it clear who can take decisions in which situations and how they should go about this. It enables people to plan ahead for a time when they may lack capacity. The Act will cover major decisions about someone's property and affairs, healthcare treatment and where the person lives, as well as everyday decisions about personal care (such as what someone eats), where the person lacks capacity to make the decisions themselves.

To find out more look at the leaflet and information booklets:

Information leaflet: Making decisions about your health, welfare and finances... Who decides when you can't?

The Mental Capacity Act - introductory information for people who may lack capacity or who want to plan ahead for the future.

The Mental Capacity Act - introductory information for family friends and other unpaid carers.