ASCLCC001 MENTAL CAPACITY ASSESSMENTS

Leicestershire County Council is handling the finances of service users who lack the mental capacity to handle their own finances and who have nobody else who can help. The Authority acts on behalf of a number of service users who have either not had their mental capacity assessed or had it assessed a significant length of time ago. All of these service users need to have an assessment of their mental capacity to ascertain their ability to be able to handle their own finances. There are roughly 500 service users who need to be assessed and the majority of these live in Leicestershire. At the moment we are handling their finances under appointeeship but it is our intention to seek Court of Protection deputyship whenever appropriate. We will indicate those cases where we think it will be appropriate to seek deputyship if the service user lacks capacity. The mental capacity assessments will be used in the deputyship application process.