Protection of Vulnerable Adults

We are all part of an ageing population, which creates challenges for our society in the provision of social care and the safeguarding and protection of vulnerable adults. Unfortunately, this means that there are many vulnerable people in need of care and support who are at risk of or may already be experiencing abuse or neglect.

Thankfully, society is slowly adapting to these challenges. In 2007, the Mental Capacity Act 2005 improved the law around vulnerable adults and empowered those in society with a degree of cognitive impairment (such as those suffering from forms of dementia) to retain as much control over their lives and independence as possible. It also improved the provision of ‘adult safeguarding’ services by local authorities and hospital trusts, designed to protect vulnerable adults from exploitation by others.

Who is a Vulnerable Adult?

While the majority of our legal work regarding the protection of vulnerable adults supports older people with cognitive impairment, the law of mental capacity and adult safeguarding is equally applicable to those with learning difficulties, or those who have acquired brain injuries or other disabilities. Many of our clients are private individuals and families struggling to find their way through a maze of assessments and official decision-making.

Safeguarding solicitors

In addition to legal work in the safeguarding and protection of vulnerable adults, our consultant, Ian Cranefield, also regularly provides training and development courses for charities, organisations and social services teams on issues of mental capacity and safeguarding and legal remedies for financial abuse.

What we do

We specialise in almost every aspect of mental capacity and adult safeguarding law, including:

- Disputes about mental capacity and associated design-making
- Supporting families in securing financial provision for their loved ones
- Bringing questions about financial and property matters or health and welfare matters before the Court of Protection, the specialist court which is tasked with making decisions on behalf of those who lack mental capacity
- The investigation of allegations of financial abuse of older or vulnerable people
- Providing advice about the role and conduct of attorneys appointed under an Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) or a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) or the role and conduct of a deputy appointed by the court
- Challenging decisions made by Social Services about a vulnerable adult, whether or not the adult has mental capacity
- Advising about and challenging funding decisions, such as applications for Continuing Care Funding (the provision of NHS funding for those with particularly high levels of need)
- Applying to the Court of Protection for an order that a Will be drafted on behalf of someone who lacks the capacity to do this themselves.
- Recovering misappropriated money and property on behalf of victims of financial abuse.