The Mental Capacity Act 2005 came into force in April 2007 to empower and protect people who do not have the ability to make their own decisions. This includes decisions about things like finance, social care, medical treatment and research arrangements.
This could be because they have:
The law aims to ensure that people who lack capacity to make decisions themselves get support to be as involved as possible in decisions about their lives.
It explains how mental capacity assessment is made, when other people can make decisions for someone who cannot act on their own, and how to plan ahead in case they can’t make decisions in the future.
For more information see Gov.uk’s advice on making decisions about your health, welfare and finances.