The Mental Health Act 2025 – the current position at a glance
What you need to know about the Mental Health Act 2025
Status of the Act
The Mental Health Act 2025 received royal assent on 18 December 2025, and has now been passed into law.
The 2025 Act is amending legislation, and effectively changes key provisions of the Mental Health Act 1983. The source legislation for detention and treatment for mental disorder remains the Mental Health Act 1983.
Commencement
Limited provisions are coming into force on 18 February 2026 – namely:
- Extending the range of “asylum seekers” who can be transferred by SoS from other detention to hospital – s48(2)(d)
- Allowing patients who have been diverted from the criminal justice system and are subject to restrictions on who can discharge them from detention (known as restricted patients), to be discharged from hospital subject to conditions that amount to a deprivation of liberty (DOL) in the community. Such patients can still be recalled to hospital. This is currently prevented by case law: Secretary of State for Justice v MM [2018] UKSC 60 (28 November 2018). This latter change only covers restricted patients and conditional discharge by SoS or the tribunal. Community Treatment Orders and Guardianship are NOT being altered by the MHA 2026 to cover DOL in the community.
We cover the changes coming into force on 18 February 2026 in more detail here.
- There are no definite time frames for further commencement. The government has made a commitment to the provisions on prison to hospital transfer timelines in 18-24 months from enactment. Realistically, other changes are not likely for about 2 years, due to the need for a new Code of Practice and re-training. A period of up to 10 years has been suggested for full implementation of the Act.
Key aims of the Act
The Act looks to increase patient choices and control in a number of ways, including:
- Patient choice of “nominated person” (currently “Nearest Relative”) who has some powers about detention and discharge
- Advance Choice Documents for indicating treatment choices
- Greater access to Tribunals
- Greater access to second opinions
It also looks to ensure detention in hospital is used for appropriate people, including:
- Changing the criteria for detention to require a risk of “serious harm” to self or others, rather than where only ‘necessary for the health or safety of self or others’.
- A shorter initial detention period of 3 months is being instituted, with shorter periods for initial renewed detentions
- Changing the way in which the MHA 1983 applies to people with Learning Disability or Autism to limit use of admission to hospital.
The current position at a glance
The changes from 18 February 2026 are likely to have a relatively limited effect. In the medium term, these changes may increase the number of restricted patients in the community subject to a DOL.
There will be areas where both commissioners and providers can be looking to prepare for the changes that will be coming but the problems are:
- Lack of clear timeline.
- Lack of detail that will come in due course in Regulations and/or a new Code of Practice.
- Resources.