Major reforms to mental health legislation have formally become law after the Mental Health Act received Royal Assent, marking a significant shift in how people with learning disabilities and autistic people are treated in England. The changes aim to curb long-term and inappropriate detention, which campaigners have criticised for decades as outdated and harmful.

Current figures show more than 2,000 people with learning disabilities and autistic people are still being held in hospital settings, with almost half having remained there for at least five years. Many detentions have continued not because of medical need, but due to gaps in suitable housing and a lack of properly funded community support. Under the new law, people without a co-existing mental illness will no longer be detained for longer than 28 days.

The legislation also strengthens patient rights by introducing mandatory care and treatment plans and expanding the role of families and carers in decision-making. First introduced in 1983 and last updated in 2007, the Act had fallen behind modern understanding of mental health and neurodiversity. The reforms are based on recommendations from Sir Simon Wessely’s 2018 independent review, which called for care to be more person-centred and less restrictive.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said the new Act would restore dignity and choice to people in crisis and address long-standing inequalities, including the disproportionate detention of Black people. While the changes will be phased in over the next decade, ministers have committed to annual progress updates and to working with people with lived experience to ensure community-based alternatives are in place.