Solicitors have this week welcomed government moves to provide more protection for vulnerable people who lack mental capacity - but have warned that the new measures will only work if they are backed up by adequate legal aid funding.

Launching the Mental Capacity Bill last week, family law minister Lord Filkin said the Bill was aiming for a 'cultural change' that addresses how health and welfare decisions should be made for those who lack capacity owing to factors such as disability, mental illness or brain injury.


The focal point of the Bill - which will affect more than two million people who lack capacity - is the presumption that they should be allowed to make as many decisions as possible for themselves.


The measures include the creation of a new court of protection covering health, welfare and financial issues, and the appointment of 'independent consultees' for people without friends or family to stand up for their rights. It would give people the power to plan ahead by appointing registered powers of attorney and make 'living wills' specifying which medical treatments they wish to refuse in the event that they lack capacity in the future. It would also make it a crime to neglect or ill-treat a person without capacity, with a prison term of up to five years attached to the new offence.


Law Society President Peter Williamson welcomed the extra protection that would be afforded under the Bill. 'We are also glad additional reassurances have been provided that nothing in the draft Bill, especially advance decisions to refuse medical treatment, will permit euthanasia,' he said. 'It is crucial that the government provides a commitment to provide sufficient resources to fund these changes, in particular increased public funding to allow increased access through the new court of protection.'