The state of health care and adult social care in England 2025/26
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Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards
Key points
- The operation of DoLS over the last decade has been characterised by an increasing volume of applications and sustained backlogs. Our notifications data suggests a continued increase in the use of DoLS in 2025/26.
- We continue to find variation in the way health and social care settings apply and understand DoLS, with issues identified around training, communication, record keeping as well as recognising and reviewing restrictions.
- In June 2026, the Supreme Court judgment set out a revised approach to establishing whether a person is deprived of their liberty. This brings significant implications for how DoLS will be applied now and in the future.
- As the legal and policy landscape around deprivation of liberty continues to evolve, it is important that the system remains focused on delivering rights-respecting and person-centred care.
Article 5 of the Human Rights Act 1998 safeguards people’s right to liberty and security, so that individual freedom is protected from unreasonable detention. This means that people can be deprived of their liberty only in specific situations and if the correct legal procedures have been followed.
One way to authorise a deprivation of liberty in health and social care settings is through the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) framework. DoLS form an important part of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and apply to people aged 18 and over in a care home or hospital.
The DoLS process provides a crucial safeguard for the human rights of people who lack the mental capacity to consent to their care arrangements. It ensures that arrangements which may amount to a deprivation of liberty are independently assessed, authorised and regularly reviewed to confirm that they are necessary, proportionate and in the person’s best interests.
Applications to deprive a person of their liberty under DoLS must be authorised by a ‘supervisory body’. In England, local authorities act as supervisory bodies and are responsible for arranging assessments to make sure that a deprivation of liberty is only authorised if certain requirements are met.
In successive State of Care reports, we have highlighted how the operation of DoLS over the last decade has been characterised by an increasing volume of applications. In many cases, this has resulted in local authorities facing assessment backlogs, leaving some people at the heart of this process without the key human rights safeguards that the DoLS system was intended to offer.
In 2025/26, our notifications data suggests a continued increase in the use of DoLS, while the way health and social care settings apply and understand the safeguards remains varied. In an evolving policy landscape, the sector must not lose focus on providing person-centred care that protects people’s rights.