More Scots living with welfare guardianship orders than ever and rising

The number of Scots living with a welfare guardianship order reached the highest level recorded, according to new figures from the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland.

The figures show that 19,078 Scots were living with a guardianship order in March 2024, a 6.9% increase on 2023.

While the increase is similar to previous years, the number of existing guardianship orders has more than doubled in the last 10 years.

When a person lacks capacity to make some or all decisions for themselves, a court can appoint a ‘welfare guardian’ to do that with and for them. The guardian is usually a relative, but can be a local authority. Welfare guardianship is most commonly used for people with learning disabilities or those with dementia.

Welfare guardians can make a number of decisions on behalf of a person including where the person lives, as well as about their personal and medical care. Local authorities have a duty to supervise all welfare guardians.

The vast majority of granted guardianship orders were new orders (92%), while the remainder were renewals. A total of 4,009 guardianship orders were granted in 2023-24, 12.9%% more than in 2022-23.

Private guardians (meaning relatives or friends as opposed to local authorities) accounted for over 77% of welfare guardianships granted, slightly above previous years.

The most common primary diagnosis was learning disability (49%), followed by dementia (35%).

The report gives a detailed breakdown of the information, including geographical variations, showing the highest rate per hundred thousand population in North Ayrshire, and the lowest in Shetland.

As part of its role, the Mental Welfare Commission undertakes a series of visits to people on welfare guardianship orders every year to understand how their rights are being upheld.

In 2023-24 the Commission visited 327 people subject to welfare guardianship orders. In 55% of those visits Commission staff provided advice or undertook further actions.

Of the 157 individuals who the Commission visited who were on a private guardianship order, 68.8% had a local authority supervising officer allocated at the time we visited.

Dr Arun Chopra, Executive Director (Medical), at the Mental Welfare Commission, said the cause of the increase was not clear.

“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.