Mental Health Tribunal

The Tribunal consists of a legal member (judge), a medical member, and a lay member with relevant experience. Hearings are usually at the hospital. The patient has the right to free legal representation (regulated mental health legal aid solicitor). The Responsible Clinician's reports and the patient's evidence are key. The Tribunal must apply Mental Health Act criteria — the conditions for detention must currently be met. The Tribunal can: discharge absolutely, discharge conditionally, recommend discharge by a future date, or maintain detention. Decisions are written within 7 days. Appeals to the Upper Tribunal on points of law.

In practice, the Tribunal is asking a present-tense question: are the criteria for detention met today? It is not reviewing whether the original decision was right, and it is not deciding whether the person has been unwell in the past. That reframing is what wins hearings. The burden is on the detaining authority to justify continued detention, not on the patient to prove they are well.

Worked example: Amir is detained under section 3. He applies to the Tribunal within the first six months of that detention, and a solicitor is appointed under non-means-tested legal aid. The solicitor obtains the reports from the responsible clinician, the nurse and the social circumstances author, and instructs an independent psychiatrist to give a second opinion. At the hearing, the panel hears that Amir is now taking medication voluntarily, has stable accommodation to return to, and has a section 117 aftercare package ready. The panel is not satisfied that detention remains necessary for his health or safety or for the protection of others and discharges him. Had the evidence been finely balanced, it could instead have recommended leave, transfer or a deferred discharge to allow aftercare to be arranged.

The pitfalls are easy to avoid once known. Application windows are tied to the section: a patient detained under section 2 has only 14 days, so waiting for the paperwork to settle can forfeit the right for that period. Legal representation is free and automatic — never attend unrepresented on the basis that you cannot afford a solicitor. Withdrawing an application uses up the entitlement for that period, so discuss it with your solicitor first. And hospital managers hold a separate review power that runs alongside the Tribunal and can be requested at any time.

The Tribunal reviews detention under the Mental Health Act 1983, is a route to securing section 117 aftercare, and an independent mental health advocate can help you apply. Read our guides to the Mental Health Tribunal and independent mental health advocacy, and apply as soon as the window opens.