Independent · no commission from any care provider · fees published
Professionals
Mental capacity assessments and COP3 reports, at fixed fees, within days
When a decision is blocked because nobody is sure whether the person can make it – a move, a sale, a care package, an LPA – a proper assessment unblocks it. A registered nurse with thirty-six years in mental health assesses the specific decision, records it the way the Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice requires, and reports within five working days.
“We can’t do anything until someone assesses Mum”
That sentence stalls house sales, care home admissions, hospital discharges and LPA registrations for months. GPs increasingly decline capacity assessments; memory clinics have waiting lists; social workers assess for their own decisions, not yours. Meanwhile the decision waits.
The Mental Capacity Act is clear about what an assessment is: a two-stage test, for a specific decision, at a specific time, with the person supported to take part. It does not have to be a doctor. It has to be done properly, and written down properly.
What we assess
- Where to live and what care to accept – residence and care decisions
- Managing money, a property sale, a tenancy or a specific transaction
- Whether the person can make a Lasting Power of Attorney now
- Capacity to consent to a care plan, a DoLS or a best-interests process
- Two decisions at one visit where both are in question
Capacity and Court of Protection fees
Fixed, in writing, exc. VAT. Travel beyond 30 miles of Eastbourne at cost.
Which assessment do you actually need?
Six questions. The result names the assessment, the price and whether the free routes are worth trying first.
The question behind most capacity enquiries
If the person has capacity to make an LPA, the LPA is faster, cheaper and theirs to control: we can prepare it in the same visit. If they lack that capacity, the only route is a deputyship application to the Court of Protection, made by a solicitor, with our COP3 as the evidence of capacity.
What this is not
- Not a medical diagnosis. We assess capacity for a decision; a memory clinic diagnoses the condition.
- Not legal advice. Whether to apply for deputyship, and how, is for the solicitor.
- Not testamentary or litigation capacity – referred to a medical practitioner.
- Not an IMCA. Statutory advocacy is commissioned by the council; we provide independent professional advocacy.
Questions about capacity assessments
Can a nurse do a capacity assessment?
Yes. The Mental Capacity Act does not restrict assessment to doctors; it requires the assessor to be able to assess the specific decision and to record the two-stage test properly. For the Court of Protection, the COP3 form lists registered nurses among the practitioners who may complete it – we check the live form on every instruction.
What is the two-stage test?
Stage one: is there an impairment of, or disturbance in, the functioning of the mind or brain? Stage two: because of that, is the person unable to understand, retain, use or weigh the relevant information, or to communicate the decision? Both stages are recorded, with the evidence for each.
Will the assessment upset my relative?
It is a conversation, not a test. We take time, use their words, involve the person they trust, and stop if they are tired. Most people find it a relief that someone is asking them, rather than talking about them.
How quickly can you come?
Visit within seven days as standard, report five working days after. With the urgent surcharge, report inside 72 hours. Video assessments can usually be done within two or three days.
Do you cover the whole country?
Video assessments, yes. In-person visits across Sussex, Kent and the South West, with travel beyond 30 miles of Eastbourne charged at cost.
What if the person refuses to take part?
A person with capacity can refuse an assessment, and we say so in writing. Where a refusal itself raises concern we explain the options, including a best-interests route through the Court of Protection with a solicitor.
What a capacity instruction looks like
Illustrative composites – the shape of the work and the typical outcome, with no real names, places or figures. Individual outcomes depend on the records and the decision-makers and are never guaranteed.
A house sale stalled for months
The GP declines; the solicitor cannot complete. Single-decision assessment by video inside a week, a two-stage record to the Code, a report the solicitor can rely on. £450.
Deputyship application
The person cannot make an LPA. COP3 completed on the live form at a home visit, covering note to the solicitor, filed with the application. £550 + travel.
A care home placement in dispute
The council says she lacks capacity to decide where she lives; the family disagrees. An independent assessment of that decision, recorded properly, either way – and a best-interests process that starts from evidence. £450.
An LPA the OPG would have rejected
The chosen certificate provider is the attorney’s daughter. We act as certificate provider instead and the LPA registers first time. £150, or included in LPA preparation.
A decision is waiting on an assessment. Let’s get it done.
Free 20-minute call; visit within seven days.
No pressure. No care-provider commissions. A written next-step note after every free call.