‘For years, lawyers and clinicians have thrown around the term ‘Gillick competence’ as if it were a universal test to apply to analyse the decision-making abilities of children. More recently, they have largely limited themselves to throwing the term around in relation to the decision-making abilities of children under 16, looking instead (in England & Wales) to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 for those aged 16 and over.’
Mental Capacity Law and Policy, 30th July 2025
