Website of the Department of Health

Mental Health Act 1983: revised Code of Practice

The Secretary of State for Health laid a revised Mental Health Act 1983 Code of Practice before Parliament on 12 May 2008. The final published version is now available electronically. Hard copies will be available for purchase from TSO (The Stationery Office) later in August and can be ordered now.  

This version replaces the version published electronically in May. The text of the Code itself is the same (but with minor errors corrected on pages 28, 30 and 342). The document now includes cross-references to the Department’s Mental Health Act Reference Guide.

The  revised Code will come into force on Monday 3 November 2008, at the same time as the majority of the main changes by made the Mental Health Act 2007 to the Mental Health Act 1983. 

The Department of Health has also published a summary of the main changes compared to the current (1999) version of the Code.  It has also published its response to its consultation exercises on the Code and on the associated secondary legislation.

• Code of Practice: Mental Health Act 1983 - revised 2008
• Download summary of changes from current Code (PDF, 199K)
• Reference guide to the Mental Health Act 1983