What Assisted Decision-Making (ADMC) is
Understanding assisted decision making
The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act is all about helping adults to make important decisions about their own life.
These decisions can be about their personal welfare, health, social care and their property and assets.
Under the assisted decision-making laws, there are different types of decision-support arrangements for people depending on their needs.
A new body, called the Decision Support Service, has been set up to register and supervise decision support arrangements.
Under this approach, every adult is presumed to have the capacity to make decisions unless determined otherwise.
What capacity is
Capacity is your ability to understand a decision is being made and also being able to understand the consequences of that decision.
By law, you are always presumed to have capacity.
The person whose ability to make decisions is being assessed is called the Relevant Person.
The Relevant Person is considered to lack the capacity to make a decision if they cannot:
- Understand the information
- Remember the information
- Communicate their decision
How capacity is assessed
A capacity report (sometimes known as a capacity assessment) is a report from a medical professional on the capacity of the Relevant Person.
This capacity report is a test to assess capacity.
This means that your ability to make a decision is assessed based on the decision that has to be made at that time. You do not lose your capacity to make decisions in general.
The test for capacity recognises that your capacity can change over time, meaning you may need more or less support in the future.
