Mental Health Warrants

The overwhelming majority of patients requiring mental health treatment are dealt with efficiently and compassionately by the NHS in either a hospital or community setting.

Occasionally things do go wrong and a person can end up in a situation where they are not having their mental health condition managed in a safe and effective way in the community.

In those circumstances section 135 of the Mental Health Act 1983 allows an Approved Mental Health Professional to make an application to a Justice of the Peace for a warrant authorising the removal of such a person to a place of safety.

In my experience these warrants are surprisingly common. In the past 12 months I have probably considered more applications for these warrants than I have search warrants.

Under section 135(1) of the Mental Health Act 1983 a Justice can grant a warrant if it appears that there is reasonable cause to suspect that a person suffering with a mental health disorder:

(a) has been, or is being, ill-treated, neglected or kept otherwise than under proper control, in any place within the jurisdiction of the justice, or;

(b) being unable to care for himself, is living alone in any such place.

The application must specify the premises to entered, but need not name the person concerned. It is not a precondition for making an application that entry to the premises has been refused.

Such a warrant authorises any constable to enter the specified premises, if need be by force, in which that person is believed to be, and, if thought fit, to remove them to a place of safety where further arrangements can be made for their mental health care.

Under section 135(6) of the Act, a place of safety is any of the following:

- Residential accommodation provided by a local authority under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014 or Part 4 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014;

- A hospital as defined by the Act;

- A police station;

- An independent hospital or care home for mentally disordered persons;

- Any other suitable place.

Under section 135(7) of the Act a house, flat or room where the person is living can only be regarded as a suitable place if certain conditions are satisfied.

If the constable considers that the specified premises is a place of safety, the person may be kept there whilst further arrangements are made for their continuing mental health care.

Under section 135(3) of the Act a person may not be detained at the specified premises or place of safety for a period exceeding 24 hours, unless their continued detention is authorised by an alternative provision.

A constable in the execution of warrant granted under section 135(1) of the Act must be accompanied by an Approved Mental Health Professional and a Registered Medical Practitioner. The warrant authorises the entry of a constable, Approved Mental Health Professional and Registered Medical Practitioner to the specified premises, but no-one else.

A warrant under section 135 of the Act is valid for one calendar month from the date it is granted and allows entry to the specified premises on one occasion only.

Section 135 of the Act only applies to the removal of a person with a mental health disorder from a private property.

If a person needed to be removed from a public place, the provisions of section 136 of the Act would be more appropriate.

If a person needed to be returned to a place for mental health treatment (e.g. suppose they had been detained under the Act, but failed to return to hospital after being granted home leave) then an application for a warrant under section 135(2) would be more appropriate.