The UK supreme court has ended a system of safeguards around the human rights of disabled people that has been in place for over a decade, in its recent ruling on a legal question brought to it by the attorney general of Northern Ireland. In doing so, the judges have alarmed charities and disability advocates and pushed a little-discussed aspect of social care regulation into the spotlight.

Any person “under continuous supervision and control” and “not free to leave” the place where they live has until now been entitled to protections known as deprivation of liberty safeguards (Dols). These are part of the Mental Capacity Act, and include annual assessments. While the safeguards mostly apply to older people with dementia, children and younger adults with autism, learning disabilities and brain injuries are also covered.

This system is widely........

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