The Social Worker’s Guide to Liberty Protection Safeguards

A new scheme of human rights safeguards comes into force in England and Wales in 2020 with the aim to protect people who cannot make their own decisions and whose care involves a level of restriction that may infringe their human rights. Liberty Protection Safeguards will apply from aged 16 upwards so all social workers in adult’s services and many in children’s services will be working with them. The Social Worker’s Guide to Liberty Protection Safeguards ensures that social workers have a clear understanding of the new legislation and, crucially, how to apply it to their practice.

Written by an experienced practitioner, the book summarises the human rights basis of LPS and takes a critical look at the contexts in which the legislation operates.  The LPS process and the different roles that social workers will have when implementing LPS are explained.  It analyses the potential weaknesses of the safeguards and how social workers can take a critical and reflective approach to implementing them.  Attention is also paid to the roles of other professionals (e.g. advocates), and of the Court of Protection in regulating LPS. Specific topics that are likely to be particularly challenging under LPS are highlighted, including liberty and family care, fluctuating capacity, covert medication, restrictions on contact with others, and intimate relationships.

This book is the first in a new series, Critical Social Work Law which will take new or complex areas of the law, explain them clearly to practitioners and demonstrate how they should be applied to social work practice.