Current services
Leicestershire County Council provides four distinct types of advocacy as required by the Care Act 2014, which are:
Care Act Advocacy
This refers to the statutory requirement under sections 67 and 68 of the Care Act to provide advocacy to people who would experience substantial difficulty in being fully involved in their assessment and other parts of the care pathway.
Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA)
This is provided to people who are detained in a secure mental health setting, provisionally discharged, those on Community Treatment Orders and voluntary patients.
Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy (IMCA)
The Mental Capacity Act makes statutory provisions for an IMCA to provide independent support for people who lack capacity to make important decisions. This must be provided by an organisation that is independent of the local authority and the NHS.
Independent Complaints Advocacy (ICAS)
This advocacy relates to members of the public or their carers making or intending to make an NHS complaint. Leicestershire commissions these advocacy services jointly with Leicester City Council and Rutland County Council.
Commissioning aspirations, intentions and opportunities
The advocacy services are due to be recommissioned in April 2024. The intention is that this will continue to be a joint commissioning arrangement for Leicestershire County Council, Leicester City and Rutland Councils.
Further detail on the model for services will be available in late 2023.
Following the delay announced in April 2023 to the introduction of the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS), future commissioning will take account of changes to advocacy required for the LPS, depending on when it is to be implemented.
Page last updated in June 2023.