The Mental Capacity Act 2005

Welcome to the tri.x Mental Capacity Act 2005 practice resource for children’s services. This resource will support practitioners working in statutory social care and provider services to understand the Act and practice confidently when supporting young people to make decisions, assessing mental capacity and applying the Best Interests principle. This is a LIVE online resource, updated by tri.x as and when it needs to be in response to changes in legislation, case law and best practice.

This resource is based upon the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice and subsequent case-law. In some instances, this case-law may not accord with the Code of Practice. Where there is a disparity between the Code of Practice and subsequent case-law, this Resource is based upon the most recent case-law. For example, the Supreme Court case of A Local Authority v JB [2021] UKSC 52 resulted in the 'two-stage' test for assessing capacity contained in the Code of Practice being reversed, so that the assessor should consider functional ability first. 

These resources are not intended to provide legal advice and you are encouraged to seek your own legal counsel when considering the area of The Mental Capacity Act 2005.