City of York Council's Adult Services team is reminding residents, customers and care workers about changes in the law concerning the care of people with mental health issues comes in to force on Sunday, 1 April.

The new Mental Capacity Act 2005 will affect everyone working with or caring for people aged 16 and over who lack the mental capacity to make decisions for themselves.

'Mental capacity' means a person's ability to make a decision about some aspect of their lives. It can be affected by a learning disability, mental health problems, dementia, stroke and other conditions. Initial research suggests that this may cover around 1.2 million people in England and Wales.

The Act sets out a new framework to help:
- people working in social care and health within the public, independent and voluntary sectors
- families or other unpaid carers
- staff in the legal, banking and advice sectors.

The Act applies whether someone is dealing with every day care matters, such as what to eat or when to get up, or major life-changing decisions, like where to live or whether to have an operation. Until this legislation, there has been little legal protection in the area of mental capacity.

The Act is based on five principles, starting with the presumption that a person has capacity to make decsions about their own life unless proved otherwise, which ensure that a person's best interest are taken into account and that they are involved in making decisions about their lives as much as possible.

The Act is being implemented in two phases. The first phase (April 2007) sees the creation of the Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy (IMCA) Service, which will represent people who lack the mental capacity to make decisions in key areas of their life and who have no family or friends who could help them make those decisions or make a decision on their behalf. 

Cloverleaf Advocacy, an independent agency,  has been appointed to provide this service by both City of York Council and North Yorkshire County Council.

A new criminal offence of ill treatment or wilful neglect of someone who lacks capacity will come into force at the same time.

The second phase of the Act starts in October and includes the creation of two new public bodies - a new Court of Protection to act as an arbiter for capacity matters - and a new Public Guardian to act as the registering authority for Lasting Powers of Attorney.