Provision of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) Assessment Services

The purpose of this single provider Framework Agreement is to define a strong working

relationship between the Customers (Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottingham City

Council) and the selected Provider, and to enable these Customers to Call Off, against the

Framework Agreement, Assessment capacity, which will support the Customers to meet

DoLS duties, through the delivery of:

• a managed, ‘end-to-end’ service for DoLS Assessments
• a flexible approach to deliver different elements of the DoLS requirements
• a responsive approach to meet the numbers of Assessments required by the Customers
• a robust approach to quality

The Provider may be asked to complete all six elements of the Best Interests Assessment or

specific elements depending on the requirements. The six elements in scope are:

• Age Assessment – confirming whether the Relevant Person is 18 or over.
• No refusals Assessment – establishing whether an authorisation would conflict with other

existing authority for decision-making for that person, such as an advance decision to refuse treatment under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

• Mental capacity Assessment – establishing whether the Relevant Person lacks capacity to

decide whether or not they should be accommodated in the relevant hospital or care home

to be given care.

• Mental health Assessment – determining whether the Relevant Person has a mental

disorder within the meaning of the Mental Health Act 1983. This is not an Assessment to

determine whether the person requires mental health treatment – the objective is to ensure

that the Relevant Person is medically diagnosed as being of “unsound mind”.

• Eligibility Assessment – relating specifically to the Relevant Person’s status, or potential

status, under the Mental Health Act 1983. A Relevant Person is eligible unless they are:

• Detained under the Mental Health Act 1983
• Subject to an obligation placed on them under the

Mental Health Act 1983, such as a guardianship order

requiring them to live somewhere else.

Or

• If the proposed authorisation relates to a deprivation of liberty in a hospital wholly or partly

for the purpose of treatment of a mental disorder, the Relevant Person will be eligible unless:

They object to being admitted to hospital, or to some or all the treatment, and They meet the

criteria for an application for admission under section 2 or section 3 of the Mental Health Act

1983.

Call-offs

In order to use the Framework a Customer (Nottinghamshire County Council or Nottingham

City Council) will Call Off Services by placing a Call Off Order for a block value of

Assessment activity. Should the value of that Call Off Order be exhausted within the Call Off

period, further Call Off Orders can be placed.

Best Interests Assessors completing Assessments under this Framework Agreement must

have at least two years’ post qualification experience and must have twelve months’ post

BIA qualification experience working as a BIA.

The Provider’s quality assurance lead will have at least two years’ post qualification

experience and will have at least two years’ post BIA qualification experience working as a

BIA.