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What is the Court of Protection?
The Court of Protection is a specialist court of England and Wales that makes decisions for adults who lack the mental capacity to make a specific decision for themselves. It operates under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, which sets out the legal test for capacity and the principle that any decision made on someone's behalf must be in their best interests.
Its caseload spans end-of-life medical treatment, contested care and residence decisions, deprivation of liberty safeguards, and management of property and finances for people who cannot manage their own affairs. For years it operated almost entirely behind closed doors; the Transparency Pilot introduced from 2016 changed that default substantially, and it is now one of the more accessible specialist courts for accredited media.
Why this beat matters
- 1Decisions made in the Court of Protection can end or sustain a life, determine where a vulnerable adult lives, or remove their control over their own finances — among the most consequential a court can make.
- 2Because the individuals concerned by definition may lack capacity to speak for themselves, independent scrutiny of the process is a significant safeguard against error or abuse.
- 3Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards and their replacement, Liberty Protection Safeguards, affect hundreds of thousands of people in care homes and hospitals, yet remain poorly understood by the public.
- 4The court's recent shift toward openness is itself a live and evolving story about how the justice system balances privacy with public accountability.
- 5Family disputes over care decisions for relatives with dementia, brain injury, or profound disability are increasingly common as the population ages, and readers often face similar situations themselves.
Legal framework: the Mental Capacity Act and the Transparency Pilot
Mental Capacity Act 2005
Sets out the statutory test for mental capacity: a person lacks capacity to make a specific decision if, because of an impairment or disturbance in the functioning of the mind or brain, they cannot understand, retain, use, or weigh the relevant information, or communicate their decision. Any decision made on their behalf must be the least restrictive option and in their best interests.
Court of Protection Transparency Pilot
Introduced from January 2016, the pilot reversed the previous default of private hearings. Most Court of Protection hearings are now held in public, subject to a standard reporting restriction order that protects the identity of the person concerned (P) and often family members and professional witnesses.
President's Guidance on publication of judgments
Guidance issued by the President of the Court of Protection encourages publication of judgments raising an issue of public interest, in anonymised form. This has significantly increased the number of Court of Protection judgments available to journalists and researchers over the past decade.
Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and Liberty Protection Safeguards
DoLS, and their planned replacement, provide the legal authorisation for depriving someone who lacks capacity of their liberty in a care home or hospital, for their own protection. Disputes over authorisations are a significant part of the court's caseload.
Anonymity for “P” and reporting restrictions
- The person at the centre of a Court of Protection case is referred to as "P" in the standard order and in any published judgment — never publish their name, address, or any detail likely to identify them unless the reporting restriction has been lifted.
- The standard order typically also restricts identification of family members, carers, and treating clinicians named in evidence, though the exact scope varies by case and is set out in the order made at the start of proceedings.
- Check the reporting restriction order in force for the specific case before the hearing — do not assume the standard terms apply without confirming with the court.
- Some judgments are published with the restriction lifted, typically in cases of significant public interest where the court decides open reporting outweighs the privacy interest — always check the judgment itself for the terms that apply.
Court of Protection vs Family Court reporting
Both courts protect the identity of the individual at the centre of proceedings and both have moved toward greater media access in recent years, but they operate under different statutes and cover different subject matter. The Family Court's core business is children — care proceedings, adoption, and private law disputes over contact and residence — under the Children Act 1989. The Court of Protection's core business is adults who may lack capacity, under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
A practical consequence: in Family Court reporting the child is never named, but parents may sometimes be identifiable depending on the restriction in force; in Court of Protection reporting it is the adult who lacks capacity — P — whose identity is protected, and the presumption of open hearings is generally stronger. See our dedicated guide on Family Court reporting for the comparison in full.
Key organisations and sources
Jargon glossary
Story ideas and interview questions
- Track recently published EWCOP judgments on BAILII or Find Case Law for cases raising a significant point of principle in your region.
- Examine how many DoLS or Liberty Protection Safeguards authorisations your local authority has processed and the average waiting time — a well-documented backlog nationally.
- Ask a local Care Quality Commission-rated care home how many residents are currently subject to a deprivation of liberty authorisation.
- Speak to Mind or a local carers' organisation about family experiences of the best interests decision-making process.
- Investigate legal aid availability for families contesting Court of Protection decisions — is representation genuinely accessible?
- Ask the Official Solicitor's office about caseload trends and resourcing pressures affecting representation for P.