Draft Mental Health Bill 2022 - our briefing and consultation response

The Draft Mental Health Bill

The Mental Health Act is a law that tells us all what the rules are when a person who has mental ill health is treated in hospital, and sometimes without their consent. This is called ‘detention’ or being sectioned.

The Mental Health Act tells us what we can do when people behave in a way that might be dangerous to other people, or they might pose danger to themselves. It gives doctors, certain powers to keep people in hospital, to assess whether they are safe and that people around them are safe. 

Some changes were made to the Mental Health Act in 2007. A lot has changed since then in how we expect people with mental health problems to be treated. 

In June 2022, the Government published the Draft Mental Health Bill. This was following the Mental Health Act White Paper consultation in 2021. 

Some of the suggested changes meant that people with learning difficulties/disabilities and autism would be affected and we wanted to understand how.

Download our briefing about Reforming the Mental Health Act here

We sent a response to the consultation. 

The Reforming the Mental Health Act White Paper was produced following the recommendations from the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act in 2018.

The Review set out what needed to change in both law and practice in order to deliver a modern mental health service.

We strongly agreed that people with a learning difficulty/disability and autism should not go into mental health inpatient services, especially if they do not have a mental health issue. For this to happen there needs to be proper support in the community near to where people live. 

People with a learning difficulty/disability and autism can still be detained under the Mental Capacity Act with fewer safeguards, making it harder to get them out again. We don't think this change will prevent us being detained in Assessment and Treatment Units (ATUs). 

But we were very concerned that the Mental Capacity Act would be used to send people to mental health units instead of using the Mental Health Act. If this happens people will not have as many reviews or rights as they do under the Mental Health Act.

You can see our consultation response here.

Joint Committee on the Draft Mental Health Bill

The Joint Committee on the Draft Mental Health Bill investigated the impact of the draft Mental Health Bill on people with learning disabilities or autism. Experts were invited to give evidence at a session on 18th October 2022. 

Simone Aspis, Free Our People Now Project Manager, Inclusion London was one of eight people who gave evidence at the session.

Taking people with learning disabilities or autism 'out of scope' of the MHA does not prevent them being detained in ATUs. They can still be detained under the MCA with far weaker safeguards, making it harder to get them out again.

You can watch the session here