Website of the Department of Health

Mental Capacity Act 2005: Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards - standard forms

The information on this page was last updated on Monday 1 June 2009

The set of documents and forms published on 27 February 2009, constituted the final version of the forms developed to date, for both supervisory bodies and for managing authorities. Theyincluded referral forms for supervisory bodies to request best interests and mental health assessors to act on their behalf and for them to request IMCA services, and  forms for IMCAs to make reports / submissions to supervisory bodies.

The forms can be adapted but, if used in unedited form, from April 1st 2009, when the Safeguards came into effect, they help all those involved in the safeguards processes to fully meet the requirements of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards legislation. Anybody in possession of or still using the draft forms published, for training purposes in October 2008 is strongly advised to dispose of those forms, as there have been a number of amendments made to them since that time and replace them with and use the current versions.

The documents and forms published in February are in both RTF and PDF formats and in single continuous documents that contain all the forms and documents.

In March 2009, the department published a further set of forms and documents (in both RTF and PDF formats). Those documents and forms are separated out and available in single files rather than as in a single continuous document. The signature boxes cannot be electronically filled in if an RTF format form has been opened in Microsoft Word.

The PDF single forms should allow anybody using Adobe Reader 8 or 9 to electronically complete those forms. Help on viewing PDFs is available elsewhere on this page. During March a problem was identified with electronic data entry into some of the text boxes on some of the PDF forms that were first uploaded but those difficulties were resolved and as a result all single PDF forms could then be electronically filled out and saved.

Problems have been identified with each of the following single versions of the completable pdf forms; numbers 11, 12, 13, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30. The fault in common was that each form contained an automated feature that could not be overriden which extracted data from one area of the form and entered it wrongly into another box on the form.

That fault has been corrected and all forms on the website, as of today, are now free of that fault.

Anybody using any versions of the completable pdf versions of the forms (numbered 11, 12, 13, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30) that they downloaded for local use needs to dispose of those and replace them with the versions currently uploaded here.

Anybody using the forms (numbered 11, 12, 13, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30) within the CD-Rom as part of a mailshot sent by the department should only use the CD-Rom versions as printed off hard copies to be filled out in longhand and use the forms here as electronically completable pdfs.

At this time, there are no other reported problems with any of the other forms on the CD-Rom.

We are aware that there may be some difficulty in scanning and faxing the forms that are coloured blue and green, and so we originally made the single RTF forms available with no colour background as well for this purpose. We previously reported that we would not be able to make the single PDF s available in non colour versions, but we have subsequently been able to do so. The single form versions in rtf and pdf are now therefore BOTH available in colour and non-colour versions.

The colour forms have been designed to print off well as black and white copies so should not present the same difficulties as they may when scanned and / or faxed.

These are standard and not statutory forms but supervisory bodies and managing authorities, and IMCAs, are strongly encouraged to use them as their use will fulfil not only their legal obligations but will bring a nationwide consistency to the implementation of the safeguards.

If you have any queries please email:

• MCA DOL safeguards mailbox (opens new window)