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Guardianship under the Mental Health Act 1983: England 2004

  • Document type:
    Statistical report
  • Author:
    Department of Health
  • Published date:
    7 September 2004
  • Primary audience:
    Professionals
  • Gateway reference:
    2004
  • Pages:
    15
  • Copyright holder:
    Crown copyright

This report contains the latest available statistics on the numbers of people subject to guardianship under Sections 7 and 37 of the Mental Health Act 1983.

Main findings

In the year to 31 March 2004

  • 447 guardianship cases were closed and 437 new cases opened, resulting in 932 cases being open at the end of the year (down by 1 % on 2003).
  • In almost all cases (99%) guardianship was conferred on the local authority, with the remaining 1% conferred on a named individual or organisation.
  • For cases closed during 2003-04 the average length of guardianship was 21 months. Of these cases 58% were for over 6 months and 42% for 6 months or less. There was considerable variability in average case length by Local Authority, ranging from three to 124 months.
  • The 437 new cases opened in the year to 31 March 2004 are small in number (1%) in comparison with the 46,900 formal detentions in hospital, under the Mental Health Act 1983, for 2002-03.
  • 10% (15 out of 150) of all local authorities accounted for 43% (405 out of 932) of cases open at 31 March 2004.

Between 31 March 1997 and 31 March 2004

  • Following a steady rise from 711 in 1997 to a peak of 997 in 2000, the number of guardianship cases in force at the end of theyear have since shown a slight decrease (6.5%) to 932 in 2004.
  • The number of new cases during the year ending 31 March 2004 was approximately 7% lower than that in 2003, and was up by only 3% (14) compared with 1997. The number of new cases has continued to decrease for the fourth successive year having reached a peak of 672 in 2000.

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