New data from the first two months of the national deprivation of liberty court released from the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory 

Previous research from the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory found that the number of applications to deprive children of their liberty under the inherent jurisdiction had increased by 462% in the three years to 2020/21. Despite this increase, children subject to deprivation of liberty orders do not currently appear in published administrative data or records.  

In July 2022, the President of the Family Division launched the national deprivation of liberty (DoLs) court. Based at the Royal Courts of Justice, it deals with all new applications seeking authorisation to deprive children of their liberty under the inherent jurisdiction and will run for a 12-month pilot phase initially. Nuffield Family Justice Observatory was invited to collect and publish data on these applications.

Published today is the first briefing highlighting high-level data trends from July and August 2022.

In the first two months of the national DoLs court, there were 237 applications – 101 in July and 136 in August.

In this briefing you can learn more about: 

• how the data was collected

• the age and gender of children subject to applications

• regional variations in applications

• who made the applications.

This first briefing provides an indication of the volume of applications being issued by the national DoLs court. In the early months of the court, caution should be exercised in interpreting and generalising findings. As data collection continues, we will be able to build a better picture about how deprivation of liberty applications are being used across the country.