Author and Publication
Author: Nellie Supports Ltd
Publication Date: 15/05/2026
Citation
Department for Constitutional Affairs (2007) Mental Capacity Act 2005: Code of Practice. London: The Stationery Office.
Copywright
Copyright © 2026 Nellie Supports Ltd. All rights reserved.
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This article does not constitute legal advice, clinical advice or a substitute for a decision-specific professional assessment. Where legislation, government guidance, court forms or external professional materials are referred to, those materials remain subject to their own copyright, licensing and re-use terms.
Evidence needed for a residence capacity report
A residence capacity report is built from the options, the person and the records: the realistic residence options documented in accessible detail; the person's presentation in a structured assessment that tests the salient points of each option; and the records, care needs assessments, daily living evidence, medical notes and the person's own words about home. The report must show which options were discussed, what support was given, what the person understood and weighed, and why any inability is caused by the impairment. This guide lists the evidence and how each piece is used.
The options in writing come first
A residence capacity report is anchored to a real comparison, so the evidence begins with the options as they actually stand: the care package on offer at home, the placement proposed, any assessment of needs behind them and the decision-maker's account of what is genuinely available. Without this the assessor cannot define the relevant information, and the report risks testing the person against choices that were never really theirs, which is the first place a challenge will look.
Care and social work records
The person's care records, social work assessments and any safeguarding history show the evidenced risks and needs the person must be able to weigh: the falls that actually happened, the support that was actually declined, the pattern at home as it really was. They stop the assessment trading in generic risks, and they let the assessor put the person's own history to them, which tests weighing far more honestly than hypothetical dangers ever can.
Medical and cognitive evidence
Medical records ground the diagnostic limb and explain the trajectory: the diagnosis, cognitive testing where it exists, recent acute episodes and, critically in residence cases, anything suggesting a temporary suppression of capacity, delirium, infection, the aftermath of a fall or anaesthetic. Evidence that the presentation may be temporary bears directly on whether to assess now or reassess once the acute picture settles, and the report should show that question was considered.
The direct assessment, ideally in the person's own setting
The core evidence is the person, seen where they are most themselves, explaining the options in their own words: what each place is, what help each offers, what could go wrong in each and why they favour the choice they do. In residence work the setting of the assessment is itself evidential, because hospital wards and unfamiliar rooms flatten presentation, and an assessment conducted at home, or recorded as adjusted for its setting, carries weight a corridor conversation cannot.
Accounts from family, carers and professionals
Those around the person hold the history the visit cannot show: how the person has managed at home over months, what they have said about moving when no assessment was running, how their view has shifted with events. These accounts should be gathered from more than one side where the family is divided over the move, attributed in the report and weighed against the interests of those giving them, because residence disputes divide families as reliably as any inheritance.
Evidence of the options being properly put
The report must show the comparison was genuinely offered: each option described concretely, visits or photographs used where practicable, the discussion held at the person's best time and revisited to test retention, and the person's responses recorded verbatim. A finding of incapacity is only as strong as the evidence that the person was given a fair opportunity to engage with the actual choice, and this is the section of a residence report that scrutiny reaches first.
Wishes, feelings and what the person can still decide
Whatever the capacity conclusion, the report should record the person's wishes and feelings about where they live, in their own words, together with anything they plainly can still decide within the wider situation. Where incapacity is found, this evidence feeds directly into the best interests decision and the least restrictive analysis that follow, and its absence forces those decisions to proceed on second-hand impressions of the very person they concern.
Assembling the report
The finished report sets out the options and their sources, the relevant information, the records reviewed, the setting and conduct of the visit, the practicable steps, the person's own account, the functional analysis, the causative link and a conclusion confined to the residence decision, with wishes and feelings recorded alongside. Written to that standard it serves the family, the local authority, any authorisation process and the Court of Protection without needing to be rebuilt for each.
Key takeaway
The evidence for a residence capacity report runs from the real options through the person's documented history to a properly conducted visit at its centre, with the person's own words and wishes preserved throughout. Gather it before concluding, show the options were fairly put and record what the person can still decide, because residence findings move people from their homes, and evidence of that consequence must be able to bear its weight.
Frequently asked questions
Does a diagnosis automatically mean someone lacks capacity?
No. A diagnosis may explain why capacity is in doubt, but it does not answer the legal question. The assessment must still consider the specific decision, the relevant information, the support provided and whether the person can understand, retain, use or weigh that information and communicate a decision.
What evidence is useful for Capacity for Residence?
Details of each realistic option, care needs assessments, evidence of how the person manages at home, medical records and any earlier assessments. The person's own expressed wishes belong in the file whatever the conclusion, because best interests decisions must engage with them.
When is a formal assessment for Capacity for Residence useful?
A fully evidenced report matters most where the decision is contested, where DoLS or the Court of Protection are involved, or where the move is connected to selling the person's home and the whole file may be scrutinised later.
Related mental capacity assessment pages
These internal links help readers move from this guide to the most relevant Nellie Supports service page, assessment option or legal framework page.
Preparing a residence capacity instruction?
Nellie Supports completes residence and care capacity assessments across England and Wales, with a same working day response to every enquiry and every report peer reviewed before delivery. Call 0333 987 5118 or visit the residence capacity assessment service page.