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Guardianship under the Mental Health Act 1983: England 2003

  • Last modified date:
    9 February 2007

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 2003

  • 469 guardianship cases were closed and 454 new cases opened, resulting in 975 cases being open at the end of the year (down by 1.5% on 2002).
  • 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 2002-2003 the average length of guardianship was 20 months. Of these cases 62% were for over 6 months and 38% for 6 months or less. There was considerable variability in average case length by Local Authority, ranging from three to 86 months.
  • The 454 new cases opened in the year to 31 March 2003 are small in number (1%) in comparison with the 47,700 formal detentions in hospital, under the Mental Health Act 1983, for 2001-2002.
  • 10% (15 out of 150) of all local authorities accounted for 43% (423 out of 975) of cases open at 31 March 2003.

Between 31 March 1996 and 31 March 2003

  • Following a steady rise from 621 in 1996 to a peak of 997 in 2001, the number of Guardianship cases in force at the end of the year have since shown a marginal decrease to 975 in 2003.
  • The number of new cases during the year ending 31 March 2003 was approximately 18% lower than that in 2002, but was up by 13% (52) compared with 1996. the number of new cases has continued to decrease for the third successive year having reached a peak of 669 in 2000.

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