Education and training approval standards for best interests assessor (BIA) courses

These are the standards against which we will assess and approve BIA courses.

They apply to all BIA qualifying courses in England. The aim is to ensure that students who successfully complete a BIA course can meet the requirements set out in the Mental Capacity Act 2005, Schedule A1 and 1A, the Mental Capacity (Deprivation of Liberty: Standard Authorisations, Assessments and Ordinary Residence) Regulations 2008 and the 6 BIA capabilities as described in the Annex 1 to the Standards.

View the list of BIA courses approved by the previous Secretary of State 

View the 2024 BIA education and training standards guidance.

Education and training providers will:

1.1 Confirm that applicants have:

i. the potential to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to meet the 6 BIA capabilities set out in Annex 1 of these standards.

ii. the potential to meet the eligibility criteria for the role set out in the relevant legislation governing BIA practice.

iii. the capability to use information and communication technology (ICT) methods and techniques to achieve course outcomes.

1.2 Confirm that applicants are and remain fully registered with a relevant regulatory body in line with the relevant regulations.

1.3 Confirm that applicants have, and can demonstrate, suitable prior experience of the practical application of appropriate legislation and policy, specifically including but not limited to mental capacity, mental health and human rights legislation, and demonstrable experience of understanding risk in relation to these.

1.4 Confirm that applicants have a robust level of legal literacy in appropriate legislative and policy areas.

1.5 Ensure that employers, providers of observation opportunities, people with lived experience, and carers are involved in admissions processes.

1.6 Ensure that the admissions processes include assessment of the suitability of applicants, including in relation to their conduct, health and character. This includes appropriate criminal conviction checks.

1.7 Ensure that there are equality, diversity and inclusion policies in relation to applicants and that they are implemented and monitored.

1.8 Ensure that the admissions process gives applicants the information they require to make an informed choice about whether to take up a place. This will include information about the award level and professional qualification, course content, teaching modes, location of study, assessment methods, duration, and observation requirements including the expectations around arranging or securing observation opportunities.

Education and training providers will:

2.1 Ensure courses are supported by a management and governance plan that includes the roles, responsibilities and lines of accountability of individuals and governing groups in the delivering, resourcing and managing the quality of the course.

2.2 Ensure that effective monitoring, evaluation and improvement systems are in place, and that these involve employers, people with relevant lived experience including carers, and students.

2.3 Ensure that admissions are aligned to a clear strategy, which includes consideration of: i. wherever appropriate, local and regional capacity for observation opportunities; and ii. the availability of part-time or other flexible course arrangements to widen access wherever possible.

2.4 Ensure that the person with overall professional responsibility for the course is a relevant qualified professional (social worker, occupational therapist, psychologist or nurse) with appropriate experience of BIA practice.

2.5 Ensure that there is adequate provision of appropriately qualified and experienced staff.

2.6 Ensure that educators are supported to maintain their knowledge and understanding in relation to mental capacity, mental health and human rights legislation and policy, including recent developments, and the practical application of this via the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, including giving support to undertake continuing professional development relevant to their role.

2.7 Ensure that students have the opportunity to provide feedback about the course and that this feedback is analysed, shared with employers and others involved in commissioning places on the course, and used to inform the management and development of the course.

Education and training providers will ensure that:

3.1 Ensure that each student has the opportunity to undertake a minimum of 2 practice observation opportunities which:

i. enables the student to shadow a BIA or community DoLS assessment.

ii. provide practice experience that can be applied to a variety of settings and types of supervisory body.

iii. enables the student to observe a suitably qualified and experienced relevant qualified professional who has relevant and current knowledge, skills and experience to demonstrate safe and effective practice.

iv. enables the student to produce a detailed analysis of relevant practice issues which forms part of the student’s overall assessment.

3.2 Ensure that the number, duration and range of observation opportunities is appropriate to support the delivery of the course and the achievement of the learning outcomes.

3.3 Maintain clear collaborative arrangements for planning and communication with providers including a thorough and effective system for approving and monitoring all observation opportunities.

Education and training providers will:

4.1 Ensure that the content, structure and delivery of the training is in accordance with relevant guidance and frameworks and is designed to enable students to demonstrate that they have the necessary knowledge and skills to meet the requirements of the role as set out in the 6 BIA capabilities set out at Annex 1, as well as a sound understanding of cross-national border issues in relation to practice in Wales, where this is appropriate.

4.2 Ensure that the views of employers, practitioners, people with lived experience of social work and carers are incorporated into the design, ongoing development and review of the curriculum.

4.3 Ensure that the course is designed in accordance with equality, diversity and inclusion principles, and, human rights and legislative frameworks.

4.4 Ensure that the course is continually updated as a result of developments in research, legislation, government policy, best practice, and case law.

4.5 Ensure that the integration of policy, legal literacy and practice is central to the course.

4.6 Ensure that the number of hours spent in structured academic learning under the direction of an educator is sufficient to ensure that students meet the required level of competence.

4.7 Provide staff involved in leading and delivering the training with sufficient protected training time to keep their own practice and knowledge up to date in line with statutory and regulatory requirements.

4.8 Ensure that assessments are robust, fair, reliable and valid, and that those who successfully complete the course have developed the knowledge and skills necessary to make robust, independent and well-evidenced assessments in the best interests of the person. This should include regular monitoring and evaluation of assessment standards to ensure that they remain robust and reliable.

4.9 Ensure students are provided with feedback throughout the course to support their ongoing development.

4.10 Ensure that the course is designed to enable students to develop an evidence-informed approach to assessment and evaluation, underpinned by skills, knowledge and an ability to interpret and respond appropriately to legislative and policy change and case law.

4.11 Ensure that the course equips students with knowledge and skills in relation to identifying and anticipating areas of conflict arising from DoLS processes and outcomes, and supporting individuals, families, carers and agencies to understand the checks and balances of the DoLS system, to support a robust, independent and well-evidenced determination in the best interests of the person.

4.12 Clearly specify requirements for student progression and achievement within the course.

4.13 Clearly specify that any equivalent award which may be made will not lead to eligibility to be approved as a BIA.

4.14 Clearly specify a process for the appointment of at least 1 external examiner who must be an appropriately experienced and relevant qualified professional.

Education and training providers will:

5.1 Ensure that students have access to resources to support their health and wellbeing including confidential counselling services. The course must also equip students to understand the potential impact of BIA practice on their own emotional and mental wellbeing, and the importance of identifying ways to handle this impact.

5.2 Ensure that students have access to a system of academic and pastoral support for their progression, development and welfare.

5.3 Ensure that there is a thorough and effective process for ensuring the ongoing suitability of students’ conduct, character and health.

5.4 Make reasonable adjustments for students with health conditions or impairments to enable them to progress through their course and meet the specialist, capabilities in accordance with relevant legislation.

5.5 Provide timely information to students about their curriculum, observation requirements, assessments, and implications for their continuing practice, including arrangements for annotation of the register and requirements for periodic refresher training.

5.6 Ensure that students are able to draw links between the completion of their BIA course and ongoing refresher training, and the ongoing requirements of their professional registration such as continuing professional development.

5.7 Provide timely and meaningful feedback to students on their progression and performance in assessments.

5.8 Ensure there is an effective process in place for students to make academic appeals.

5.9 Ensure that policies and processes, including for whistleblowing, are in place for students to challenge unsafe behaviours and cultures and organisational wrongdoing, and report concerns openly and safely without fear of adverse consequences.

1. The ability to apply in practice, and maintain knowledge of, relevant legal and policy frameworks

1.1. A working knowledge of:

i. Mental capacity legislation and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), their related codes of practice, national and local policy guidance.

ii. Relevant parts of other legislation, codes of practice, national and local policy guidance, in particular the Human Rights Act 1998, the Mental Health Acts (MHA) 1983 and 2007, the Care Act 2014, and law/policy related to adult safeguarding.

iii. Relevant case law and its application in practice.

iv. The developing concept of deprivation of liberty

v. The legal position and accountability of DoLS/BIAs in relation to the Mental Capacity Act, any employing organisation and the authority on whose behalf they are acting.

1.2. The ability to:

i. Base DoLS/BIA practice on a critical evaluation of a range of case law and research relevant to evidence-based practice.

ii. Provide a clearly evidenced, written rationale of the process including where relevant information on differences of opinion, and how information has been analysed and used to reach an evidence-informed professional opinion.

iii. Analyse and critically reflect on personal practice in order to identify achievements and opportunities for further development. 

iv. Exercise the appropriate use of independence, authority and autonomy and use it to inform their future practice as a BIA. 

v. Work within their area of competence, seeking further advice as appropriate.

vi. Assert a social perspective of care and disability.

vii. make properly informed independent decisions in tight timescales.

2. The ability to work in a manner congruent with the assumption of capacity.

2.1. An understanding of:

i. The Human Rights Act in particular the basic rights to personal autonomy, choice, privacy, liberty and self-determination, providing challenge to others where needed.

ii. The legal test that must be applied when assessing capacity.

iii. Advance decisions and lasting powers of attorney including in relation to refusing life sustaining treatment.

iv. The role of the relevant person’s representative, and the role of the relevant person in choosing their representative.

2.2. The ability to:

i. Competently assess capacity for people in complex situations, seeking other evidence as appropriate.

ii. Consider and understand the appropriateness and function of different legislation depending on a person's situation and presenting need, and to give clear legal justifications for the outcome of assessments.

iii. Understand and respond sensitively to, issues of race, religion or belief, disability, age, sex, sexual orientation or gender reassignment in carrying out DoLS assessments.

iv. Consult sensitively all those with an interest in the person’s welfare, and sustain engagement in circumstances where there is hostility or risk.

v. Reflect on the influence and impact of their own values on professional practice.

vi. Appropriately identify legally appointed decision makers such as attorneys and court appointed deputies, and assess whether advance decisions are valid and applicable.

vii. The ability to promote the rights, dignity and self-determination of the relevant person consistent with their own needs and wishes, to enable them to contribute to the decisions made affecting their quality of life and liberty.

3. The ability to take all practical steps to help someone make a decision

3.1. An understanding of:

i. The impact of mental disorder on mental capacity, including the effect of social, physical and developmental factors, discrimination and inequality on a person’s ability to make decisions .

ii. The social impact of the disability or condition, how this impacts on the relevant person, the family, carers, and the decision-making process. 

iii. The role of the Independent Mental Capacity Advocate (IMCA) within the DoLS process, and the circumstances in which an IMCA should be appointed. 

iv. A variety of forms of communication, including communication aids and tools and the impact on the relevant person of communicating at different times of the day and in different locations.

3.2. The ability to:

i. Communicate skilfully and confidently in the context of a DoLS or mental capacity assessment.

ii. Utilise a range of approaches to sustain engagement with people whose capacity and ability to communicate may fluctuate, or be very limited.

iii. Enable the person to contribute to the decision making process as far as is possible given the circumstances of the case.

iv. Support people through a complex assessment process within the framework of the MCA including interviewing the person, their relatives and staff and identifying and appointing the relevant person’s representative.

4. The ability to balance a person’s right to autonomy and self-determination with their right to safety, and respond proportionately.

4.1. An understanding of:

i. The way that unwise decisions are understood in relation to the MCA.

ii. The links between the MCA/DoLS, the MHA and the protection of adults at risk of abuse, balancing this within the wider need to recognise people’s right to autonomy.

iii. The impact of coercion and power imbalances on people’s abilities to make decisions.

4.2. The ability to:

i. Carry out work with individuals that is person centred and promotes choice and autonomy, while considering issues of risks and proportionality.

ii. Be alert for the need for assessment under the MHA where relevant persons are ineligible for DoLS.

iii. Make appropriate safeguarding referrals and engage effectively and proactively with local safeguarding structures and processes.

5. The ability to make informed, independent best interest decisions within the context of a Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) assessment

5.1. An understanding of:

i. What constitutes ‘best interests’, as set out within the MCA, codes of practice and case law.

ii. The DoLS assessment process including the role of the Mental Health Assessor and IMCA.

iii. The implications of a range of treatments and interventions applicable to the relevant person’s situation.

iv. The recommendations a BIA can make in relation to deprivation of liberty

v. how questions of public protection are to be considered from a DoLS perspective.

5.2. The ability to:

i. Articulate the DoLS process and the BIA’s role within the assessment process.

ii. Determine whether:

a. a deprivation of liberty is occurring.

b. the deprivation is in the person’s best interests using the section 4 checklist.

c. the person meets the requirements for age, no refusals, mental capacity and eligibility if appropriate.

iii. Make appropriate recommendations on:

a. conditions attached to the authorisation, and

b. duration of the authorisation.

iv. Formally record assessments to a high professional standard likely to withstand legal scrutiny, demonstrating the ability to analyse and evaluate complex information; to provide evidence for decision making including the rationale for the timescale recommended for any deprivation of liberty.

v. Consult the Mental Health Assessor, and IMCA if appointed, and document and examine their views in the written decision-making process.

6. The ability to effectively assess risk in complex situations, and use analysis to make proportionate decisions.

6.1. An understanding of:

i. Risk, how to assess risk, likelihood and seriousness of risk, proportionate responses to managing risk.

ii. The benefits of positive risk taking.

iii. the above in relation to risk to others as well as risk to self.

6.2. An ability to:

i. Weigh up the pros and cons of the different options in the light of best interests and risk assessment.

ii. Identify risk, and consider its management in a less restrictive manner (if possible) to arrive at a proportionate outcome.

iii. Evidence in their report an analysis of risk including proportionality and the actual likelihood of harm.

iv. Take action when an application to the Court of Protection is needed.

v. Challenge risk-averse, oppressive and/or discriminatory practice.