The Mental Health Act 2025. How will you update your advice and information?

The Mental Health Act 2025 gained royal assent in December 2025. This means that it is now the law.

The Act is a welcome step towards modernising the Mental Health Act. The Act is the law that says you can be detained in hospital for assessment or treatment. This is if your mental health is very bad and you might be a risk to yourself or other people. On our webpage you can read more about the Mental Health Act.

The government have said that the main terms of the Mental Health Act 2025 will be phased in over a 10-year period. It is expected the earliest any of the main terms will be introduced will be 2027.

But some changes brought in by the Mental Health Act 2025 come into effect on 18 February 2026. We are arranging updates to our affected advice and information content.

The government have published a Mental Health Act 2025 update, which tells you more about it.

When further changes are introduced, we will update affected advice and information content.

Last updated: 19 January 2026