Mental Capacity Act 2005

Brain injury can significantly impair some people's ability to make decisions. In such cases, it may be necessary to make some decisions on their behalf and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (the MCA) provides a legal framework to allow this.

The MCA sets out important legal principles concerning how people can be helped to make their own decisions and sets out rules for those who take decisions on their behalf. The MCA applies to financial affairs, property, health and personal welfare.

This factsheet provides a brief overview of how the MCA works. More details on the process of making decisions for someone else is provided in the Headway booklet Supporting people to make decisions: applying the Mental Capacity Act, which can be purchased from the Headway online shop at www.headway.org.uk/shop.aspx.

The MCA only applies to England and Wales. Scotland has its own legislation and further information for Scottish residents is suggested in the 'Further reading' section. Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands currently have no equivalent legislation, and mental capacity issues are dealt with under common law.

Key principles of the Mental Capacity Act

The MCA sets out five fundamental principles:

• There is a presumption that a person has mental capacity unless proved otherwise
• Only after all practical steps have been taken to help a person make their own decision, should they be treated as incapable of doing so
• It should not be presumed that someone lacks mental capacity just because a person makes an 'unwise' decision
• Any acts done for a person lacking mental capacity should be done in their best interests (set out in more detail below)
• Before acting for a person lacking mental capacity, consideration should be given as to the least restrictive way of achieving the desired outcome

These principles are set out in the MCA to ensure that people are involved as much as possible in decisions about their own personal affairs.

Further information about the Mental Capacity Act

Headway's factsheet A guide to the Mental Capacity Act contains more information about applying the MCA, including the principles of making decisions on behalf of someone who lacks capacity. You can download this factsheet and access useful information from other organisations below.