Today, at the State Opening of Parliament, the King’s Speech contained confirmation that the Government will legislate to modernise the Mental Health Act. This is the next step in the long-awaited reform of the Act, which is a piece of legislation in England and Wales setting out when people can be detained and hospitalised for mental health treatment against their wishes.
The background briefing to the King’s Speech confirms that the Mental Health Bill will be introduced, with the caveat that the reforms “will take a number of years to implement, as we will need to recruit and train more clinical and judicial staff”, and will be introduced in phases, “as resources allow”.
As we outlined in our response to the omission of the Mental Health Bill from the King’s Speech in November 2023, the last before the general election, we know that many regarded the reforms planned by the last Government as a step in the right direction towards addressing some key issues in the Act.
However, the reforms on offer in the draft bill were considered by many not to go far enough, and not to be underpinned by a rights-based approach.
To have any impact, reforms must also be backed by significant additional funding.
The reforms set out by the previous government – which we assume will be brought forward largely as they are, as outlined in the Government’s response to the Joint Committee on the Draft Mental Health Bill’s recommendations – arguably attempted to address racial disparities in how the Act is used, despite our belief they failed to address the scale of institutional and structural racism in the mental health system.
There was also the proposed change to take more autistic people and people with learning disabilities out the scope of the Act. However, this will not necessarily decrease the number of detentions or improve the conditions of detention – instead, it may mean that autistic people and people with learning disabilities are still eligible for and subject to detention under the Mental Capacity Act, or in Assessment and Treatment Units, with fewer safeguards.
Today, we reiterate that we urgently need to see a commitment to transformative change beyond the scope of the previously outlined reforms in addressing a culture of abuse, neglect, iatrogenic harm and exclusion in the mental health system as a whole. The decimation of community care and alternatives to detention under austerity for both those in crisis and those living with long-term distress remains an urgent crisis.
As we said in November:
Whenever the proposed reforms are finalised and implemented, we remain firm in our position that a real change in how people experience detention is not just down to legislation – or funding, resourcing, and workforce – but also a commitment to deep, transformative changes to harmful practice and culture. The urgent need for change in our mental health systems extends far beyond issues with detention under the Mental Health Act, and though the reforms have the potential to make a difference to the lives of people who are detained and somewhat increase choice and autonomy, the lack of community support and choice in what care looks like both for people experiencing crisis and for those living with long-term distress remains a critical issue.