Mental Capacity Act 2005 and DoLS

Mental Capacity Act and DoLS training delivered at your workplace or live online. Half a day, or a full day for teams supporting complex needs. The legally grounded, practical understanding care staff need to apply the five statutory principles correctly, every time, not just when it’s easy.

Course Overview

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 is one of the most important pieces of legislation in health and social care. It’s also one of the most consistently misapplied.

In delivery, the same gaps surface across teams and settings with striking regularity. Staff who believe that a diagnosis of dementia, a learning disability, or a mental health condition means the individual lacks capacity, without ever assessing the specific decision in front of them. Teams making blanket best-interest decisions with no documented capacity assessment behind them. Care workers who genuinely don’t know how to balance their duty of care with an individual’s right under principle three to make a decision others consider unwise. And the phrase “mental capacity” is used as a sweeping label, when the law is explicit that capacity is always time-specific and decision-specific. A person who cannot manage their finances today may have the full capacity to decide what they eat for lunch.

These aren’t minor misunderstandings. They lead to unlawful restriction, safeguarding concerns, and a fundamental failure of the person-centred care that the Mental Capacity Act was designed to protect.

This course gives care staff a clear, practical, and legally grounded understanding of how the MCA works in real situations. It covers the five statutory principles, how to assess capacity correctly, how to make and record best interests decisions, and how to apply the least restrictive option in everyday care. It also covers Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards at an awareness level, including the significant change to the legal test for deprivation of liberty introduced by the Supreme Court on 2 June 2026, when the long-standing Cheshire West “acid test” was unanimously overruled. The course aligns with the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the MCA Code of Practice, CQC Regulation 11: Need for Consent, the Human Rights Act 1998, and the Care Act 2014.

Course Details

  • Duration: Half-day (3 to 4 hours), or full-day workshop for teams supporting complex needs
  • Delivery: Face-to-face in-house or live online via Zoom or Microsoft Teams
  • Certificate: CPD-Accredited Certificate of Achievement in Mental Capacity Act and DoLS
  • Awarding organisations: Healthcare Trainers Network (HTN), CPD-Accredited  
  • Validity: No formal expiry. Refresher recommended every 2 to 3 years, or sooner following legislative updates, significant incidents, safeguarding concerns, or changes in role. Given the Supreme Court’s June 2026 ruling, an earlier refresher is currently advisable for most services.
  • Group size: Maximum 15 learners per trainer

Who This Course Is For

This course is right for any staff member whose role involves supporting individuals who may lack the capacity to make specific decisions.

  • Care assistants and support workers in care homes, supported living, and domiciliary care
  • Senior carers and team leaders
  • Managers and supervisors responsible for oversight of best interests decisions and DoLS applications
  • Health and social care staff involved in decision-making or care planning
  • Personal Assistants supporting individuals through Direct Payments, Personal Health Budgets, or Continuing Healthcare arrangements
  • Any staff member who has ever felt uncertain about whether they are acting lawfully when supporting someone who refuses care, makes a decision others consider risky, or whose capacity fluctuates

Not sure whether this course meets your team’s needs, or whether a full-day workshop would suit your service better than a half-day? Get in touch, and we’ll help you work it out before you commit.

Why This Training Matters

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 provides the legal framework for decision-making on behalf of adults who may lack capacity. It is built around five statutory principles that are not optional guidance. They are the law. And when they are not understood or applied correctly, the consequences are serious.

The most persistent misunderstanding in practice is the assumption that capacity is a fixed characteristic. It is not. The MCA is explicit: capacity is always assessed in relation to a specific decision at a specific time. A person who lacks the capacity to make a complex financial decision today may have full capacity to decide where they want to go for a walk this afternoon. Staff who apply a blanket mental capacity label based on a diagnosis are not applying the MCA. They are overriding it.

Principle three of the MCA states that individuals have the right to make decisions others consider unwise. For many care workers, this is the hardest principle to apply in practice, because it sits in direct tension with the instinct to protect. When someone with capacity chooses to eat food that is not good for them, or refuses a medication their GP has recommended, or wants to do something that carries genuine risk, the care worker’s duty of care does not disappear. But neither does the individual’s right to make that choice. This course gives staff the framework to hold both at once and to document their decision-making in a way that demonstrates good practice.

Under CQC Regulation 11: Need for Consent, providers must ensure care and treatment is delivered with valid consent, or lawfully in line with the MCA, where individuals lack capacity. Failure to do this constitutes unlawful care. CQC inspectors look specifically at whether capacity assessments are decision-specific, whether best interests decisions are documented, and whether restrictions on individuals are lawfully authorised. The Care Act 2014 places wellbeing at the heart of adult social care, encompassing physical, mental, emotional, and social wellbeing. Best interest decisions must consider the whole person, not just the presenting risk.

DoLS After Cheshire West: A Significant and Very Recent Change

This section reflects a major legal development that took place on 2 June 2026, only weeks before this page was last reviewed. Official government and CQC guidance responding to this judgment is still emerging, and providers should expect further clarification in the coming months.

On 2 June 2026, a seven-member panel of the Supreme Court unanimously overruled the Cheshire West “acid test” ([2026] UKSC 16). The acid test, which determined a deprivation of liberty solely by whether someone was under continuous supervision and control and not free to leave, has been replaced with a multifactorial, context-sensitive approach in which the individual’s own wishes and apparent contentment are now directly relevant. There is no transition period. The ruling took effect immediately.

The practical effect is that fewer care arrangements are likely to meet the threshold for a deprivation of liberty than under the old test, meaning fewer situations may require a DoLS authorisation going forward. However, the judgment is complex and was handed down very recently. Providers should not assume that existing DoLS authorisations or pending applications are automatically affected or unaffected. Each situation should be considered individually, with reference to updated CQC and government guidance as it emerges, and with appropriate legal advice where there is doubt.

DoLS, understood in light of this ruling, remains the current legal mechanism in England. LPS remains under consultation with no confirmed implementation date. This course covers DoLS at an awareness level, including the practical implications of the ruling as currently understood, and is explicit in delivery about what is settled, what is still developing, and where independent advice should be sought.

What the Day Covers

Content is adapted to your service type, client group, and the specific MCA challenges most relevant to your team. Topics covered include:

  • The purpose and scope of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and who it applies to
  • The five statutory principles: what each means and how each applies in everyday care practice
  • Capacity is time and decision-specific: why blanket labels are unlawful and how to assess correctly
  • The two-stage capacity assessment: the diagnostic threshold and the functional test
  • Supporting decision-making: how to help someone make their own decision
  • Principle three in practice
  • Best interests decision-making: the checklist, who must be consulted, and how to document the process
  • The least restrictive option: what this means in practice and why it matters
  • Fluctuating capacity: how to approach decisions when capacity is not stable
  • Restraint and restriction: when restraint is lawful under the MCA and when it is not
  • Deprivation of liberty after [2026] UKSC 16: the acid test no longer applies. The new multifactorial approach requires a context-sensitive assessment of the individual’s concrete situation, including the type, duration, effects, and manner of implementation of any restrictions, and gives direct weight to the individual’s own wishes and feelings. This section is delivered in light of the current position and is explicit about what is settled, what is still developing, and where legal advice should be sought
  • DoLS at the awareness level
  • The Human Rights Act 1998, Articles 5 and 8, in the context of care, restriction, and the post-UKSC 16 position
  • The Care Act 2014 wellbeing principle and its relationship to best interests decisions
  • CQC Regulation 11 and what inspectors look for in relation to consent and capacity
  • Documentation: what a lawful capacity assessment and best interests record must contain, and how to evidence the least restrictive option was considered

Every course is also built to include your own policies, documentation formats, and any specific incidents or CQC feedback relevant to your service as standard.

How the Course Is Delivered

This course is available face-to-face at your workplace or chosen venue, or live online via Zoom or Microsoft Teams for teams in multiple locations or with remote workers. Sessions are practical, scenario-based, and built around the real decisions care workers face when supporting individuals who may lack capacity. The aim is genuine confidence in applying the law, not just awareness that the law exists.

Groups are capped at 15 to ensure every learner has space for the kind of honest discussion this topic generates. Where helpful, we incorporate your own policies, documentation formats, and any specific incidents or CQC feedback into delivery.

Delivery includes:

  • Scenario-based work covering the specific situations that generate the most uncertainty in practice, including fluctuating capacity, families who believe they can override an individual’s wishes, refusal of care, and decisions involving significant risk
  • Direct exploration of principle three and the tension between the duty of care and the right to make unwise decisions
  • Practical exercises in capacity assessment and best interests decision-making, including what documentation must contain
  • Discussion of the DoLS acid test and real examples of where the line between restriction and deprivation falls

Certification and Validity

On completion, learners receive a CPD-Accredited Certificate of Achievement in the Mental Capacity Act and DoLS.

A refresher is recommended every 2 to 3 years, or sooner following any significant change to legislation or statutory guidance, following a safeguarding investigation or CQC finding related to consent or capacity, or when staff take on new responsibilities involving decision-making for individuals who may lack capacity.

Given the ongoing LPS consultation, services should also expect to revisit this training once any changes to the MCA Code of Practice are confirmed. Our Adult Safeguarding Level 1 and 2 and Dementia Awareness courses work well alongside this one for services building a more complete legal and practice framework.

Why Organisations Book With Prima Cura

Most training providers arrive with a course. We arrive with yours.

Before the day, we gather information about your workplace: your incident reporting forms, your internal procedures, and the specific hazards your team actually faces. On the day, your trainer works that into every scenario, every discussion, every practical exercise. If your staff work in a care home, they’re not practising on hypothetical office workers. If your team are lone workers, that context shapes how the session runs.

It means the training lands. Not because it was well-delivered in a generic sense, but because it was relevant to the people in the room and the situations they’ll actually encounter.

A few other things that matter to the organisations that book with us:

  • 98.9% learner satisfaction across all Prima Cura courses
  • All trainers hold Enhanced DBS certificates and maintain ongoing CPD
  • We advise honestly on the qualification level at the enquiry stage. If a different course is a better fit for your workforce, we’ll say so before you book, not after

We respond to all enquiries within one working day.

Where We Deliver

We deliver in-house training at your workplace or chosen venue across Manchester, Greater Manchester, and the wider North West. We also deliver nationally across England, including North England, South England, London, and Surrey.

All sessions are led by experienced Prima Cura Training instructors. Groups are capped at 15 per trainer to protect the quality of hands-on learning.

Our associate network means we can deliver across England. You can meet the team on our Associates page.

FAQs

What are the five principles of the Mental Capacity Act?

The five statutory principles are: first, that every adult must be assumed to have capacity unless it is established that they do not. Second, all practicable steps must be taken to support a person to make their own decision before concluding they lack capacity. Third, a person is not to be treated as lacking capacity merely because they make a decision others consider unwise. Fourth, any act done or decision made on behalf of someone who lacks capacity must be done in their best interests. Fifth, that before any act or decision is taken, consideration must be given to whether the purpose can be achieved in a less restrictive way.

What does ‘time and decision-specific’ mean under the MCA?

Capacity under the MCA is never a blanket state. It is always assessed in relation to a specific decision at a specific point in time. A person who cannot manage their finances may have the full capacity to decide what they want for lunch. A person whose capacity fluctuates due to dementia or a mental health condition may have capacity at some times and not others. Labelling someone as lacking capacity based on their diagnosis without assessing the specific decision is not only poor practice, but it is also unlawful.

What is the difference between a restriction and a deprivation of liberty?

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling in [2026] UKSC 16, the acid test no longer applies. Whether someone is deprived of their liberty is now determined by a multifactorial, context-sensitive assessment considering the type, duration, effects, and manner of implementation of restrictions, and giving direct weight to the individual’s own wishes and feelings. The distinction still matters because a deprivation of liberty can only be lawfully authorised through DoLS in a care home or hospital. An unauthorised deprivation of liberty remains unlawful regardless of the individual’s best interests.

Is DoLS still in force in 2026?

Yes. DoLS remains the current legal mechanism in England. On 2 June 2026, the Supreme Court unanimously overruled the Cheshire West acid test in [2026] UKSC 16, replacing it with a multifactorial, context-sensitive approach to determining whether someone is deprived of their liberty. The ruling took effect immediately. This means fewer care arrangements are likely to meet the threshold for a deprivation of liberty than under the old test, but DoLS itself has not been abolished. Where a genuine deprivation of liberty is identified under the new approach, providers must still apply for a DoLS authorisation.
Liberty Protection Safeguards, introduced under the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019, remain unimplemented. The government’s planned consultation on LPS implementation, which was expected in the first half of 2026, is now likely to be significantly reshaped in light of the Supreme Court ruling. No implementation date has been confirmed, and providers should not delay action in anticipation of LPS. DHSC interim guidance published on 15 June 2026 asks organisations to begin aligning their practice with the new legal position now, while further detailed guidance, including practical case studies, is expected to follow. We deliver this training across Greater Manchester, the wider North West, and nationally.

Further Reading

Related Courses

Book or Enquire

Book your training or request a quote

Tell us your team size and your sector. We’ll come back with a quote, the right advice on qualification level, and a straight answer on whether this is the best course for your team.

We respond to all enquiries within one working day.

Our Commitment to Quality and Compliance

At Prima Cura Training, all courses reflect current UK guidance and best practice. All trainers are experienced professionals with relevant qualifications and ongoing CPD. Because many of the organisations we support work with vulnerable individuals, all trainers hold Enhanced DBS checks.

This course is reviewed against updates from the Department of Health and Social Care, the Care Quality Commission, and current UK legislation, including the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019, the Human Rights Act 1998, the Care Act 2014, and the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Course content reflects the MCA Code of Practice and current DoLS guidance.

You can read more on our Quality Assurance and Compliance page.

Reviewed by Stephanie Austin, Owner and Lead Trainer, Prima Cura Training | 25+ years in health and social care | 15+ years as a trainer | Last reviewed: June 2026 | Next review: June 2027

This page is for general guidance only and reflects current UK legislation, statutory guidance, and best practice as of the date of review. It does not constitute legal advice. Mental Capacity Act and DoLS Training provides awareness and practical guidance for health and social care staff and does not replace legal advice, organisational policies, or the statutory obligations placed on providers and individuals under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019, the Human Rights Act 1998, the Care Act 2014, and the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

On 2 June 2026, the Supreme Court unanimously overruled the Cheshire West acid test in [2026] UKSC 16, replacing it with a multifactorial approach to determining deprivation of liberty. This ruling took effect immediately. DoLS remains the current legal mechanism in England. Liberty Protection Safeguards have not been implemented, and no implementation date has been confirmed. Where a genuine deprivation of liberty is identified under the new approach, providers must continue to apply for DoLS authorisations. DHSC interim guidance published 15 June 2026 requires organisations to begin aligning their practice with the new legal position now. Further detailed guidance from DHSC is expected. This page will be reviewed as that guidance emerges.

Where individual capacity assessments, best interests decisions, or DoLS applications are required, providers must ensure these are carried out by appropriately trained and authorised individuals in accordance with the MCA, the MCA Code of Practice, and current statutory guidance. Given the significance and recency of the Supreme Court ruling, providers should seek independent legal advice on specific cases where there is doubt about whether a deprivation of liberty exists under the new approach.

< back

Enquire about Mental Capacity Act 2005 and DoLS