It is difficult for the parent of a disabled child reaching adulthood to adjust to the change in their legal standing. They have been able to make decisions with and for their disabled child as parents, advocating long and hard for their child’s rights and best interests. The child attains 18 (legal adulthood) and parental responsibility ends.
The Court of Protection can appoint parents as welfare deputies, and bestow power upon them again in relation to all manner of decisions (where their child will live, giving or refusing consent to medical treatment, etc). However, it has been an uphill struggle for devoted parents to persuade the court to appoint them to this role, particularly since 2019 and the decision of Mr Justice Hayden in the case of Lawson, Mottram and Hopton (Appointment of Personal Welfare Deputies) [2019]1 WLR 5164.
The Court has always preferred collaborative decision-making on the ground to giving authority to named individuals, with the back-stop of taking a matter to the court for a judge to decide, if collaboration does not result in agreement. For the past few years, welfare deputyship appointments have been relatively rare. (In 2025, over 12500 new property and affairs orders were made, compared with just 174 for personal welfare).
That may now change.
The Court of Appeal has considered the role of welfare deputies, and has identified features in an individual case which may suggest that welfare deputyship is appropriate (HB, Re (Appointment of Personal Welfare Deputy) [2026] EWCA Civ. 960):
- The applicants have a special relationship with the person, “with a special ability to understand and communicate with and for” them;
- Where the person’s wishes and feelings, beliefs “and the things which are important to them” are likely to be enhanced by the appointment of a deputy;
- Where it is likely that more than one decision will need to be made in the foreseeable future; a “series or ‘stream’” of decisions is anticipated;
- Where the person is transitioning from childhood to adulthood;
- Where public bodies have failed, or threaten to fail in their duties, particularly in their duty of consultation;
- Where decision-making needs to be “prompt and agile in order to respond to an evolving set of circumstances”.
Whilst collaborative decision-making will remain the starting point for decision-making for adults who lack capacity to make their own decisions, Lord Justice Nugee acknowledged that in reality, this can be frustrating and disappointing for parents, identifying failures on the part of statutory authorities to share information and to properly consult with family in a person’s best interests.
Every application will of course be judged on the facts and circumstances. The doors are not being flung wide for welfare deputyships, but there is hope on the horizon for families who long to continue advocating and supporting their disabled adult-child.
