Capacity assessments
A capacity assessment addresses whether a person is able to make a particular decision at a particular time. It is not a finding about the person in general, and an opinion on one decision does not carry over to another.
Report scope
What this report is for
In England and Wales the assessment follows the two-stage test in the Mental Capacity Act 2005: whether there is an impairment of, or disturbance in the functioning of, the mind or brain, and whether that impairment means the person cannot understand, retain, use or weigh the relevant information, or communicate a decision.
The decision in question governs the assessment. Litigation capacity, capacity to manage property and affairs, capacity to make a will and capacity to consent to treatment are separate questions with separate thresholds, and a report answering one does not answer the others.
Court of Protection applications generally require the assessment on form COP3, completed by a practitioner who has examined the person. The form sets out what the court expects to see and its structure differs from a CPR Part 35 report.
The precise remit, documents and assumptions should be settled in the letter of instruction. An expert’s opinion is confined to their own discipline and the material provided.
Instruction requirements
A focused route to usable evidence
The statute that applies depends on where the person is. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 covers England and Wales; Scotland applies the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 and Northern Ireland the Mental Capacity Act (Northern Ireland) 2016.
The decision itself
Name the specific decision the assessment is to address.
Relevant records
Provide the clinical and other material the opinion will rest on.
Time and circumstances
Capacity can change; the report speaks to when it was assessed.
The applicable statute
State which jurisdiction’s framework the report is prepared under.
Use the register to identify a suitable discipline, then agree the scope directly.
Find an expert for capacity assessmentsRelated routes
Where this report sits
neuropsychological assessments and condition and prognosis reports may be relevant where the impairment itself is in issue, or where the person’s presentation is expected to change.
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