Ruling removes ‘vital’ UK safeguards for severely disabled people, charities warn

Campaigners say supreme court judgment on deprivation of liberty safeguards introduces ‘regressive legal standard’

Severely disabled people will be at heightened risk of abuse in care homes and hospitals after the biggest upheaval in disability law in a generation overturned “vital” legal safeguards, campaigners have warned.

They said a supreme court judgment that potentially strips the right of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people to independent checks on the safety and appropriateness of their care “devalues the dignity of disabled people”.