Causes of incapacity in guardianship
Our interest in these figures
We have safeguarding duties in relation to people who fall under the protection of the Adults with Incapacity Act 2000. We examine the use of welfare guardianship for adults with a mental illness, learning disability or other mental disorder (including dementia) to determine how and for whom the 2000 Act is being used. This helps to highlight those individuals with certain mental disorders who might not be benefiting from the rights and protections that are set out in law. The table above sets out our analysis of approved welfare guardianship orders as related to the identified causes of the adult's incapacity.
What we found
Each year dementia accounts for the great majority of orders, being specified as the cause of incapacity in 55% of the orders granted last year. The last three years, however, have seen a growth of 24% in the use of welfare guardianship for people with learning disability, relative to incapacity caused by other diagnoses. The number of orders approved for adults with alcohol related brain damage (ARBD) nearly doubled from 32 in 2007-08 to 61 last year but still only accounted for 5% of all orders.
We think this is a surprisingly low rate given the difficulties faced by this group of individuals and the risks to their health and welfare.
Annual reports
- directors introduction
- overview of the Mental Health (Care & Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 introduction
- new orders granted in 2008-09
- total numbers of 2003 Act orders in existence
- monitoring our priority areas
- additional findings from our monitoring of mental health law
- our overview of the use of the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000
- our overview of the use of Adults With Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000
- trends in the use of welfare guardianship
- geographical variations in the use of welfare guardianship
causes of incapacity in guardianship
- age of adults at point of welfare guardianship order approval
- length of welfare guardianship orders granted
- consent to medical treatment (part 5 AWI)
- our scrutiny of approved welfare guardianship
- welfare guardianship for adults under 25
- proposals for legislative change