A council faces a multi-million pound – and growing – funding gap following a court ruling on treating patients without their consent.

The number of applications for Deprivation of Liberty Safeguard (DoLS) orders Kirklees received more than quadrupled in 2015/16 compared to the previous year.

DoLS, introduced in 2009, protect adults receiving care in a registered home or hospital and who lack the mental capacity to consent to treatment.

Kirklees Council received 1,752 applications in 2015/16 – more than double the estimated 800. In 2014/15 there were just 383.

And, following a 2014 Supreme Court ruling which made a wider range of patients eligible, the number of applications is forecast to exceed 2,000 this year.

The applications could cost Kirklees at least £2.6m this year – although the figure could exceed £8m.

Applications for the orders cost an average of £1,300 because of the number of health professionals required to approve a DoLS.

But applications can cost up to £4,000 if the case goes to court – and the cost of complex cases can be ‘considerably more’.

Any overspend will be funded by council reserves – although the practice of using reserves is not sustainable.

A report, prepared for Kirklees cabinet on Tuesday, said: “DoLS processes are complex and costly.

“The average cost in Kirklees of a DoL in a care home or hospital is £1,300 although a single non-complex case can incur up to £4,000 costs if it needs to be considered by the Court of Protection; a complex case will cost considerably more.”

Kirklees Cabinet Member for Resources, Clr Graham Turner, appealed for the Government to recognise the huge financial pressures that the court ruling was putting on already cash-strapped councils.

Kirklees Labour member, Clr Graham Turner

The Labour member said: “This is a cost we have no control over.

“The Government needs to accept this so we can spend more on services.”

Cabinet member Naheed Mather added: “We need to lobby the Local Government Association and Government to get the Government to beef up this extra payment.”

Kirklees Council was given just £198,387 to cover DoLS in 2014/15, an amount Clr Turner branded ‘insufficient’.