The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) data collection gathers information on all DoLS applications in England on an annual basis.

<span>Information collected in the data return will provide an estimate of the number of individuals subject to a DoLS authorisation as well as the number of active DoLS cases in England for the 2025 to 2026 reporting period. Data is collected at individual case level to afford greater flexibility of analysis across variables such as location and demographics. A case is defined as active from the moment the DoLS request is received by the CASSR.</span>


nhsd-deprivation-of-liberty-safeguards-dols-under-the-mental-capacity-act-2005

NHSD Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) under the Mental Capacity Act 2005

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DateMicrosoftFormat

If, during the year ending 31 March, a granted authorisation has come to an end for whatever reason, enter the date on which the authorisation actually ended.  Under all other circumstances, including where the individual died before the authorisation is granted, leave blank.

Actual end date

positiveInteger

Age is recorded using the age of the person at the date from which the Standard Authorisation is/was sought, as referenced in the DoLS form 1.  This should be recorded regardless of whether or not the authorisation was granted.

Age (DoLs)

Text

Application Reference - This is created using a formula combining the three digit CASSR code; the Person Reference, the year (e.g. 20 for 2019-20), followed by an index of the DoLS applied to the individual. This will be generated automatically upon entry of Person Reference and LA Code

Application Reference

This is the date the authorisation request is completed by the council (Supervisory Body). A request is considered to be completed when the decision is made to grant/not grant the authorisation and the relevant form (new form 5 for granted authorisations or new form 6 for not granted authorisations) has been completed and signed by the relevant person at the council. Where the person has died or their circumstances have changed before completion of the application and your Supervisory Body does not use form 6 in these scenarios, record the date the Supervisory Body became aware of the change in circumstances. If the assessment has not yet been signed off at the 31st March at the end of the submission period, then the field should be left blank.

Application sign off date

applicationStatus

This field indicates the present status of the application. If the decision to grant or not grant the application has been made this should be indicated here. An application may also still be in progress at the end of the collection period. (March 31st)

Application Status

assessmentCriteriaStatus

To show which of the assessments have been undertaken for each case, and it will show the progress of the assessment as well as help with validation when the data is returned to NHS Digital. The outcomes are recorded as either 1 for satisfied, 2 for not satisfied, 3 for equivalent assessment from a prior DoLS application or 0 for not assessed. 
The six requirements of the assessment that must be met are: 
Age Requirement
Mental Health Requirement
Mental Capacity Requirement
No Refusals Requirement
Eligibility Requirement
Best Interests Requirement.

Assessment Criteria Status

The CQC Location Code is used in this collection to mean the place for which the authorisation is requested.

CQC Location Code

This is the date the authorisation request was received by the council (Supervisory Body), to instigate the assessment process. The date will be a standard format that will be consistent across all returns from councils.  Do not leave this field blank, all active DoLS cases must have a date the authorisation request was submitted to the Supervisory Body, regardless of the outcome of the assessment.

Date application received

This is the date when the most recent assessment was completed, irrespective of whether all the six assessments are completed or not. For example if only  3 out of the 6 assessments (column H-M) are completed, this should be populated with the date of completion of the latest of the 3 assessments. For applications with none of the 6 assessments completed this field should be left blank.

Date of last assessment

disability

While the person must have a mental health disorder as defined under the Mental Health Act 1983, there may be another disability that is primarily associated with the person. 
In most cases, a mental health issue will be the primary disability, however please respond as accurately as possible.

Disability

DoLSNotGranted

A Best Interests Assessment is when the assessor determines whether the situation amounts to a deprivation of liberty, and if so, whether or not this deprivation of liberty is in the person’s best interests. A DoLS would be in a person’s best interest if it is necessary to prevent them from harm and if it is a proportionate response to the likelihood and seriousness of that harm. If authorisation was not granted or was withdrawn, but the assessor concluded that deprivation of liberty was occurring, then this would be recorded as 1 for Yes. If the authorisation was not granted or was withdrawn, and the Best Interests Assessor did not report any deprivation of liberty then record this as 0.  If the authorisation was granted, record 9 for Not Applicable. If the authorisation was not granted and a BI assessment was not completed, record 9.

DoLS not granted but BIA advises DoL occurring

number

This cell will automatically calculate the length of time the person has been subjected to DoLS for the application in question, based on the  “Start Date of Authorisation” and “Actual end date”. This indicates the length of the standard DoLS authorisation and does not include any days individual was subjected to an urgent authorisation. 

Where the DoLS was granted before 31 March 2018 and has not yet ended, this will be populated with the number of days from the 'Start Date of Authorisation' up to 31 March 2018. If the application has not been granted, withdrawn, is still to be signed off by the supervisory body, or authorisation has not started as on 31 March 2018, this will be populated with NA for Not Applicable. Duration will be automatically calculated only for those records which have the 'Person Reference' populated.

Duration (days)

Please record the number of consecutive days the person has been deprived of their liberty up to the end of the DoLS in question. This is to determine the length of time the person has been continuously subject to DoLS, including any previous authorisations that have run consecutively with no breaks. This may include authorisations from previous reporting periods. Where the DoL was granted and has not yet ended, please enter the number of days from the start of the first of the consecutive DoLs being granted, up to 31 March at the end of the submission period. The duration of the entire DoLS period should only be recorded for the length of the standard DoLS authorisations; it should not include any days the individual was subject to an urgent authorisation.

Duration of entire DoLS period (consecutive days)

ethnicOriginDoLs

Ethnicity is defined based on the categories established in the ‘ONS Harmonisation Programme Primary Set of Harmonised Concepts and Questions’ and used in the 2011 Census of England and Wales, as well as including the additional classification of ‘No Data’. The DoLS return uses the top tier classifications of ethnicity.

Ethnic Origin (DoLs)

genderDoLs

Defined as the gender the individual considers themselves to be. In the case of transgender, it should be recorded as the preference of the individual concerned.

Gender (DoLs)

Number (3 digit)

LA Code - The LA code is entered using the three digit code that signifies a council with adult social service responsibilities (CASSR)

LA Code (DoLs)

This should be how many DoLS have previously been granted to the individual where authorisations have run consecutively without a break.  This may include authorisations from previous reporting periods.  This should not include the current DoLS application.

Number of previous DoLS authorisations

During an authorised DoLS case, a number of reviews can occur, which will reassess whether the person should continue to be subject to a DoL. Reviews may take place at any time during the DoLS period. Please record the number of reviews during the case, regardless of whether the case has ended or still continues.  Please enter 0 if there have been no reviews where the authorisation was granted.  Please leave blank where the DoLS was not granted for any reason.

Number of reviews

outcomeOfMostRecentReview

A review is a fresh 'look' at the circumstances where a DoLS has been authorised.  Where one review or more has taken place during the active DoLS case, please record the outcome of the latest review. If one of the six requirements is no longer met, then that would be the reason the DoLS authorisation is revoked. Possible other reasons include death or change in circumstances.

Outcome of most recent review

Person Reference - This should contain a local reference that is unique to the individual for whom the DoLS applies. It can be made up of letters or numbers or a combination of the two. This code should be re-used where another DoLS case occurs for the same individual. This must be a local reference and one which ensures that the identity of the person is protected.

Person Reference

DoLS cases, when authorised, have a duration to indicate how long the authorisation is in place. Due to the review process, a case may end earlier than the noted date.  The planned end date should be the date that the authorisation is/was originally due to finish when the authorisation was granted. If the authorisation has not been granted or is still to be signed off by the Supervisory Body, it should be left blank.

Planned end date

reasonNotGranted

Where the DoLS authorisation is not granted, it could be due to failing one or more of the six requirements listed above. However, there are also other reasons why a request might not be granted: There may have been a change in circumstances, for example if the individual has moved location or has died before a decision was made or assessments completed.

Reason Not Granted

sexualOrientationDoLs

The sexual orientation of an individual is defined as “the physical and emotional attraction a person feels towards other people”. The code used should reflect how the individual views their own sexual orientation.

Sexual Orientation (DoLs)

The actual date the DoLS application was authorised to begin rather than the application sign off date. This date will be used to calculate the duration of each authorised DoL. If the application has not yet been signed off or Not Granted it should be left blank.

Start Date of Authorisation

A third party refers to a member of staff, family member, carer, or any other person not directly involved with the DoLS process, who suspects unauthorised deprivation of liberty. The law entitles a third party to ask the Managing Authority to change the care plan to avoid deprivation of liberty, or to give itself an urgent authorisation and request a standard authorisation. If the third party does not feel this was dealt with satisfactorily they may formally request a full assessment. If the request for assessment comes from a third party, the date should be recorded.

Third party request date

noYes

Is the request for a standard authorisation is accompanied by an urgent authorisation?

NHSD Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) under the Mental Capacity Act 2005

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