Nigel Turner's HyperGUIDE to the Mental Health Act

Section 117

A Duty to make Aftercare Arrangements

Secton 117 give the statutory authorities a duty to made arrangements for a person's continuing support and care. It appplies to people who have been detained under Section 3, Section 37, Section 47, and Section 48.

The Act states:

It shall be the duty of the District Health Authority and of the local social services authority to provide, in co-operation with relevant voluntary agencies, after-care services for any person to whom this section applies until such time as the District Health Authority and the local social services authority are satisfied that the person concerned is no longer in need of such services.

While the Act makes this duty to arrange aftercare services, there is no obligation for the person concerned actually to accept the services which are on offer. For example, the aftercare arrangements might include visits from a Community Psychiatric Nurse [CPN] - but the person does not have to let the CPN into their home.

Over the years, steps have been taken to try to improve aftercare planning, for example by the appointment of a Key Worker under the Care Programme Approach. A further piece of legislation, the Mental Health (Patients in the Community) Act 1995, created Supervised Dicharge whereby a person can be legally required to reside at a certain place and attend for treatment. However, the neither the 1983 Act nor the 1995 Act include any legal power actually to treat someone against their will in the community.

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This page last revised 3 November 1996
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of information in these pages, they are not intended to be relied upon as an authoritative statement of the law. The author cannot accept liability for errors or omissions.