All resources on this page are freely accessible.
Glossary
A glossary can be found here of some of the acronyms, words and phrases you may come across in the Court of Protection, together with some of the acronyms relating to health and welfare which most often appear. Comments on it and suggestions for further things to include are very welcome via the contact page.
LPA consultation response
The CPBA’s response (13 October 2021) to the proposals to reform Lasting Powers of Attorney can be found here.
Coronavirus/COVID-19
A useful set of resources relating to the wider operation of courts (including legal aid) can be found on the Mental Health Law Online website here); the Judiciary website has also collated advice and guidance here. Key resources relating to the Court of Protection are the guidance letters from the Vice-President, Hayden J, as follows (in reverse chronological order):
- 11 May 2020: letter from the Vice-President about transparency
- 31 March 2020: Guidance on remote access to the Court of Protection, including a detailed protocol for remote hearings and draft order.
- 24 March 2020 Further Guidance for Judges and Practitioners in the Court of Protection arising from Covid-19
- 18 March 2020: Additional Guidance for Judges and Practitioners arising from Covid-19
- 13 March 2020: Visits to P by Judges and Legal Advisers
The CPBA issued guidance (approved by Hayden J) on 7 April 2020 as to effective conduct of remote hearings in the Court of Protection, available here (as updated 7 July 2020)
Legislation, forms and Practice Directions
A number of websites have gathered together relevant legislation and Practice Directions, including the Court of Protection Handbook and the Court of Protection Hub. Reproduced below, with permission from the Legal Action Group, are the relevant legislative material links from the Court of Protection Handbook.
The links here are provided in good faith; however, caution should always be exercised in ensuring that the version of the legislation or guidance is current as not all freely available official sources (such as legislation.gov.uk) are entirely up to date.
Primary Legislation
Secondary Legislation
- Court of Protection Rules 2017, which came into force on 1 December. A destination table showing how the Court of Protection Rules 2007 translate into the 2017 rules is available here, and an explanatory memorandum prepared by the Ministry of Justice to accompany the new Rules.
- Court of Protection Rules 2007 as amended 2017 (now historical interest only)
- Court of Protection Rules Pilot Parts 1-5 and 15 (now historical interest only)
- Civil Procedure Rules
- Court of Protection Fees Order 2007
- Mental Capacity Act 2005 (Transfer of Proceedings) Order 2007
Codes of Practice
COP forms and fees
Practice Guidance and Practice Notes
- PG Practice Note 1/11: Court of Protection Costs
- Committal for Contempt of Court Practice Guidance (May 2013)
- Committal for Contempt of Court Practice Guidance (June 2013)
- Facilitating participation of ‘P’ and vulnerable persons in Court of Protection proceedings (November 2016)
- Serious Medical Treatment (January 2020)
- Appeal procedure (January 2020)
Practice Directions
- 1A: Participation of P
- 2A: Levels of Judiciary
- 2B: Authorised court officers
- 2C: Application of Civil Procedure Rules and Family Procedure Rules
- 3A: Dealing with Applications: court’s jurisdiction to be exercised by certain judges
- 3B: Case Pathways
- 4A: Hearings (including reporting restrictions)
- 4B: Court Bundles
- 4C: Transparency, and accompanying note from the Vice-President. Note, the model order to which the Practice Direction makes reference has not yet been updated from that made under the Pilot. An unofficial corrected version in Word can be found here, including references to the Court of Protection Rules 2017 (with thanks to Hannah Nicholas of Hill Dickinson for updating).
- 5A: Court documents
- 5B: Statements of truth
- 6A: Service of documents
- 6B: Service out of the jurisdiction
- 7A: Notifying P
- 8A: Permission
- 9A: The application form
- 9B: Notification of other persons that an application has been issued
- 9C: Responding to an application
- 9D: Applications by currently appointed deputies, attorneys and donees in relation to P’s property and affairs
- 9E: Applications relating to statutory will, codicils, settlements and other dealings with P’s property
- 9F: Applications to appoint or discharge a trustee
- 9G: Applications relating to the registration of enduring powers of attorney
- 10A: Applications within proceedings
- 10B: Urgent and interim applications
- 11A: Deprivation of liberty applications
- 12A: Human Rights Act 1998
- 13A: Procedure for disputing the court’s jurisdiction
- 14A: Written evidence
- 14B: Depositions
- 14C: Fees for examiners of the court
- 14D: Witness summons
- 14E: Section 49 reports
- 15A: Expert evidence
- 17A: Litigation friend
- 17B: Rule 1.2 representatives
- 18A: Change of solicitor
- 19A: Costs
- 19B: Fixed costs in the Court of Protection
- 20A: Appeals
- 20B: Allocation of appeals
- 21A: Contempt of court
- 22A: Civil restraint orders
- 23A: International protection of adults
- 24A: Request for directions where notice of objection prevents Public Guardian from registering enduring power of attorney
- 24B: Where P ceases to lack capacity or dies
- 24C: Transitional provisions
Note: the previous PD9E (relating to serious medical treatment) was repealed with effect from 1 December 2017.
Re X process
- Practice Direction: 11A: Deprivation of liberty applications (note, the material paragraphs for these purposes are 27 and onwards)
- COP DOL11 form
- Model order (in Word)
Accredited Legal Representatives
Details of the ALR scheme – and those who are accredited as ALRs – can be found here. The Practice Note issued by the Law Society for those acting as ALRs can be found here (the Practice Note is free, but requires registration).
Legal aid
The Legal Aid Handbook website accompanying the Legal Action Group’s Legal Aid Handbook, includes primary and secondary legislation relevant to legal aid.
Case-law
Bailii: British and Irish Legal Information Institute: transcripts of judgments including decisions of the Court of Protection.
Mental Health Law Online: Extensive site containing legislation, case transcripts and other useful material relating to both the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Mental Health Act 1983.
Commentary
39 Essex Chambers: 39 Essex Chambers has a dedicated Court of Protection resources site, including a monthly report and a searchable database of cases relating to mental capacity law.
Court of Protection Hub: Site maintained by the publishers of Court of Protection Made Clear: A User’s Guide, including case commentaries.
Garden Court Chambers: Garden Court Chambers has a website and newsletter dedicated to social welfare, including community care and incapacity, issues.
Guide to the Law of the NHS: this website contains material about the way the NHS operates, frequently of relevance in Court of Protection cases. It is maintained by members of Landmark Chambers.
Mental Capacity Law and Policy: A website maintained by Alex Ruck Keene dedicated to improving understanding of and practice in the field of mental capacity law, including articles, papers and other resources on the MCA 2005.
The Small Places: this is a blog site maintained by Lucy Series, socio-legal researcher and expert commentator upon the Court of Protection.
Three articles/presentations by Professor Anselm Eldergill, District Judge at the Court of Protection, on the ECHR, the UNCRPD and the legal rights of citizens suffering mental ill-health; the rights of persons with disabilities in criminal proceedings; and the ECHR and mental health.
Mediation
A practitioner-led nationwide pilot mediation scheme is being run from 1 October 2019, to evaluate the impact of mediation on Court of Protection proceedings. While mediation is used to resolve disputes where proceedings have been issued in the Court of Protection, there has been little research into the effectiveness of it. For more details of the scheme, see here.