Mental Health Act 2025: What the reforms mean for you

The Mental Health Act 2025 introduces the most substantial update to mental health law in over 40 years - modernising the framework, strengthening patient rights and reshaping the responsibilities of health and social care providers. Our specialist team is here to help you understand what’s changing and how to prepare.

A Modern, Rights‑Focused Approach

Driven by concerns about rising detentions, inequalities in care and outdated legal definitions, the new legislation aims to create a more personalised, empowering system.

Four new statutory principles now guide every decision made under the Act:

• Choice and autonomy – ensuring patients’ voices are central
• Therapeutic benefit – compulsory treatment must genuinely help
• Least restriction – minimising unnecessary detention
• Person as an individual – focusing on holistic needs

These principles represent a significant cultural shift towards more collaborative, compassionate care.

The Government will issue annual updates about the progress of the Act’s implementation, which is predicted to be phased over the next 8-10 years.  Such a long timeframe is necessary to allow services to change sufficiently to be able to accommodate the full changes.

Key Changes You Need to Know

The new Mental Health Act 2025 introduces some fundamental reforms that will influence how mental health care decisions are made and where care and support will be provided. Some of the key reforms include:

Reforms to detention criteria: Detentions under sections 2 and 3 will now be lawful only where there is a demonstrable risk of serious harm to the individual or others. The initial detention period under section 3 has also been reduced from six months to three months, with subsequent renewal periods also shortened.

Patients with autism and learning disabilities: People with autism or learning disabilities will not be able to be detained under section 3 or placed on a Community Treatment Order (CTO) unless they have a co-occurring psychiatric disorder that meets the criteria for detention.

Places of Safety: Prisons and police cells will no longer be classed as “places of safety” under the Act.

Strengthening patient rights: The Act seeks to strengthen the rights of patients, including the right for patients and their representatives to appeal against detention, easier access to second opinions, and enhanced access to the First-tier Tribunal (Mental Health). In addition, it aims to enhance the rights of children and young people by ensuring that their wishes, and the wishes of those close to them, are more central to decision making.

Patient representation and control: Patients will be allowed to choose a “nominated person” to represent their interests and participate in key decisions around their care. This will replace the role of the “nearest relative” under the 1983 Act. The 2025 Act will also introduce statutory Care and Treatment Plans and a requirement for clinicians to consider Advance Choice Documents (ACDs).

How We Can Support You

These reforms bring major operational, clinical and legal implications for NHS organisations, local authorities, independent providers and commissioners. Our mental health law specialists can help you:

• Update policies, procedures and staff training
• Navigate the new detention and treatment criteria
• Manage complex issues involving learning disability and autism
• Prepare for changes to tribunals, aftercare and conditional discharge
• Ensure lawful, defensible decision making under the strengthened safeguards