Court of Protection: Launch of the Re X procedure

Below is a letter from the Court of Protection about the launch of a new streamlined process for managing court-authorised deprivations of liberty.

Dear Court of Protection User

On 17 November 2014, the Court of Protection will launch a new streamlined process for managing court-authorised deprivations of liberty. The new process implements guidelines set out by the President of the Court of Protection in two recent judgments: Re X and others (Deprivation of Liberty) [2014] EWCOP 25, and, Re X and others (Deprivation of Liberty) (Number 2) EWCOP 37.

The new Re X procedure is set out in a practice direction issued by the President, and is accompanied by new application forms, designed exclusively for applying for court-authorised deprivations of liberty. You can download a saveable pdf of the form here: COPDL10 form. You will find the practice direction and a suggested draft Re X order on the Judiciary website or you can access it from the Court of Protection pages on Direct Gov: www.gov.uk/court-of-protection by clicking on the ‘deprivation of liberty’ link. Copies of the Practice Direction can also be found here and the Re X order here.

The Re X procedure is designed to enable the court to decide applications for a court-authorised deprivation of liberty on the papers only, without holding a hearing, provided certain safeguards are met: Those safeguards include ensuring that:

The person who is the subject of the application and all relevant people in their life are consulted about the application and have an opportunity to express their wishes and views to the court.
The person who is the subject of the application has not expressed a wish to take part in the court proceedings.
The person who is the subject of the application and all relevant people in their life do not object to the application.
There are no other significant factors that ought to be brought to the attention of the court that would make the application unsuitable for the streamlined procedure.

The process has been designed after informal consultation with the judiciary and court users, and we are grateful for all the valuable contributions received. We intend to review the process once it has been up and running for a while, and would be grateful for any feedback on how it works in practice. You can email your comments to the DoL Team. COPDOLS/S16@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk.

The Court of Protection has set up a dedicated team to deal with applications made under the Re X procedure. The contact details are:

Court of Protection
P.O. Box 70185
London
WC1A 9JA

DX 160013 Kingsway 7

· 0207 421 8665

· COPDOLS/S16@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk

Please note that the telephone and email contact details above are for enquiries relating to the Re X procedure only. If you need to contact the Court of Protection for any other reason, use the general enquiry number and email:

· 0300 456 4600

· courtofprotectionenquiries@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk

Yours sincerely

James Batey
Court of Protection, PO Box 70185, First Avenue House, 42-49 High Holborn, London, WC1A 9JA
DX 160013 Kingsway
Tel: 020 7421 8763
Email: james.batey@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk