“Measures will be brought forward to support the health and
wellbeing of the nation, including to.. .improve mental health. ”
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On 13 January 2021 the Government published the White Paper
on reforming the Mental Health Act, setting out proposals to
make the Act work better for people.
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These are once-in-a-generation reforms to bring the Mental
Health Act into the 21st century and give people greater
control over their treatment and receive the dignity and
respect they deserve.
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The Government will reform the process for detention, improve
care and treatment whilst someone is detained, and give them
better support to challenge detention if they wish, shifting
the balance to give the patient more say.
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The Government committed to change the law around how people
with a learning disability or autistic people are treated
under the Act to prevent prolonged detentions. As set out in
the Code of Practice, compulsory treatment in a hospital
setting is rarely likely to be helpful for an autistic
person, who may be very distressed by even minor changes in
routine and is likely to find detention in hospital anxiety
provoking. We will therefore move to limit the Act for people
with these conditions.
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The Government will also make key improvements to how we
manage offenders with acute mental disorders, including
commitments to support these offenders to access the care
they need as quickly and early as possible.
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These reforms also seek to address the disproportionate
number of people from black and minority ethnic groups
detained under the Act.
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The consultation on our proposals closed last month and we
are considering responses we received. The Government will
respond to the consultation later this year, which will pave
the way for future legislation.
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As well as reforming legislation, the Government remains
committed to our ambitions in the NHS Long Term Plan to
expand and transform mental health services in England and to
invest an additional £2.3 billion a year in mental health
services by 2023-24, so that two million more people will be
able to access mental health support.
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The pandemic has had an impact on the mental health and
wellbeing of many people. The Government has set out its
Mental Health Recovery Action Plan as part of the commitment
to build back better. This plan is backed by a one-off
targeted investment of £500 million, to ensure that the right
support is in place over the coming year for everyone who
needs it.
Key facts
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The Mental Health Act 1983 sets out the legal framework in
England and Wales for the treatment and detention of people
with mental ill health, including when such action may be
compulsory. The Act has not been fully updated for nearly 40
years, although the Mental Health Act 2007 made changes.
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There were 51,000 new detentions under the Act (and 4,650 new
Community Treatment Orders) in 2019-20. Numbers of detentions
have been rising over recent years - by an estimated 1 per
cent last year.
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The Government is already making significant headway on
delivering the reform agenda, with £400 million announced in
2020 to eradicate dormitories in mental health wards. This is
critical to improving patients’ experiences and ensuring that
they are treated with dignity and respect.
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At least 380,000 more adults a year will have access to
psychological therapies and an additional 345,000 children
and young people access to mental health support by 2023-24.
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In addition, we are introducing new models of care which will
give 370,000 adults with serious mental illness greater
choice and control over their care and support them to live
well in their communities by 2023-24.
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The Mental Health Recovery Action Plan includes £79 million
to significantly expand children’s mental health services,
which will allow around 22,500 more children and young people
to access community health services, 2,000 more children and
young people to access eating disorder services and a faster
increase in the coverage of mental health support teams in
schools and colleges over the 2021-22 financial year.
