Scots living with welfare guardianship court orders reaches record high

More than 19,000 Scots now have a court-appointed welfare guardian, according to new figures showing that the number of welfare guardianship orders in Scotland is at an all-time high.

The figures, published by the Mental Welfare Commission (MWC), show that a total of 19,078 Scots were living with a welfare guardianship order as at March 31 2024.

This is a 6.9% increase on 2023, and more than double the number of orders in place ten years ago.

A welfare guardian can be appointed by a court to make decisions on behalf of someone if they lack the capacity to do so themselves, most commonly where a person has learning disabilities or suffers from dementia.

Guardians are usually a relative or friend but can be a local authority, and decisions they can make include where a person lives, and around their personal and medical care.

Dr Arun Chopra, executive director (medical) of MWC, said: “We note the sharper than average increase in guardianship orders this year.

“We cannot say what might be driving this increase – however, a constant consideration is that the rights of those who lack capacity because of mental illness, learning disability, dementia and related conditions should continue to be protected by the law.

“While those legal protections are vital, we believe the system needs reform and hope that the findings of this report will be helpful to considerations within the current Scottish Government-led consultation on reforms to the Adults with Incapacity Act.

“We look forward to working with Scottish Government and stakeholders on the work arising from this consultation.”

There were a total of 4,009 guardianship orders made between April 1 2023 and March 31 2024, of which about 92% were new orders and the rest renewals of existing orders.

This represents a 12.9% increase on the number of orders made the year before.

A total of 83.9% of the orders made in 2023-24 were for a period of five years or less, 14.3% were for six years or longer, and 1.8% were of indefinite duration.

The figures show that of the guardians appointed, about 73% were friends or relatives of the person concerned, and that the most common primary diagnosis leading to the appointment of a guardian was learning disability (49%) followed by dementia (35%).

The figures also break the orders down by region, with North Ayrshire seeing proportionally the highest number of orders (148.7 per 100,000 people) and Shetland the lowest (31.8 per 100,000 people).

The overall rate for Scotland over the period was 85.3 orders per 100,000 people.

As part of its statutory role the MWC carries out series of visits to people on welfare guardianship orders every year to understand how their rights are being upheld.

Between April 1 2023 and March 31 2024 they visited 327 people subject to welfare guardianship orders, and said they provided advice or undertook further actions in 55% of those visits.

Local authorities also have a duty to supervise all welfare guardians.

The MWC publishes information about welfare guardian orders annually as part of its statutory role to monitor the use of the Adults with Incapacity Act.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We welcome this report from the Mental Welfare Commission on the use of Adults with Incapacity Act.

“This Act has helped protect and empower adults who lack capacity to make their own decisions for over 20 years, but the time is right for reform.

“We made a commitment in our programme for government to strengthen the law and a public consultation is under way. Views captured in this will, alongside work from the Mental Welfare Commission and other stakeholders, inform any future changes to the law.”