Disability and Inclusion Strategy
One of the key pieces of legislation under the Disability and Inclusion Strategy is the Capacity legislation. The following are extracts from the Disability and Inclusion Strategy from September 2013.
“Everyone should be treated with dignity and their views sought on decisions affecting their lives…”
“…whilst most Islanders would take for granted the right to make their own decisions about how to spend their money, whether or not to undergo medical treatment, and how to deal with their own property – and many other things besides, for some people, this is simply not the case.
This issue relates to a concept called “capacity”, which is whether a person has the necessary skills and understanding to make fundamental decisions about their own life. Capacity is not something a person either totally has or totally lacks – one could, for example, have the capacity to make decisions about one’s health, but not about one’s finances. Capacity is specific to the issue at hand. There are provisions in the Mental Health (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2010 to provide some protection in this respect and work looking at issues and problems in this area should be considered as a separate work stream.”
The States agreed to setting Capacity legislation up as a separate workstream and work has progressed since then.
GDA members on the steps of the States in 2013 before the debate on the Disability and Inclusion Strategy. Click on photo to take you to the Guernsey Press article where the photo comes from.
To find out more about the Disability and Inclusion Strategy click the button below:
Capacity Law
Having identified a need for capacity legislation in 2013, a policy letter came to the States on 16th March 2016 click below to read the report:
HSC Capacity Law Policy Letter 16-12-2015
The States resolved the following having considered this report:
The HSC brought additional proposals in February 2020 in its policy letter ‘’Capacity Law’ – Supplementary Policy matters and potential financial implications arising from the appeals process’. Click on the following link to read this report.
P_2020_10_-_’Capacity_Law’_-_Supplementary_Policy_Matter
The letter of comment from P and R can be read below:
P_2020_10_-_Capacity_Law_-_Letter_of_Comment
The States resolved the following having considered the above:
The Law was put to the States on 22nd April 2020 which approved a Projet de Loi entitled the Capacity (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2020 and requested the
Bailiff to present a Petition to Her Majesty in Council. This is the route new Laws have to go so that on the 10th March 2021 the Queen in Council agreed for the legislation to proceed.
Click on the following button to read a copy of the Law.
To read the news about the introduction of this Law and the different grounds it covers click the button below:
Subordinate Legislation
The HSC are undertaking a phased approach for the introduction of the Capacity legislation. Whilst the Law has been registered back in the Island it will not all come into effect until some secondary legislation in the form of ordinances and regulations have been made.
One important piece of legislation under the Capacity Law is the Lasting Powers of Attorney Ordinance. For more information on this ordinance click the button below.
We are anticipating that further legislation will be rolled out under the Capacity Law in due course.