Government commits to boosting Breathing Space uptake through the Mental Health Bill

We have broadly welcomed the Mental Health Bill that is currently working its way through Parliament. It’s vital that the Mental Health Act 1983 is reformed and updated to better support those of us with mental health problems. 

However, the bill on its own doesn’t systematically address the link between mental health problems and financial difficulty. We have set out the major changes we would like to see, and we’ve been working with peers to propose three amendments to the bill to better address this missing link.

Last month, we were thrilled to secure a number of commitments from the government on the first two of those amendments. Now, we’re delighted that we’ve had another win that will help more people access Breathing Space.

In our Recovery Space research, we found that tens of thousands of people in England alone struggle with problem debt whilst in hospital for their mental health. We campaigned for people experiencing a mental health crisis to get a break from escalating fees, charges and collections on their debts whilst they focus on recovery. This became a reality when the Breathing Space debt respite scheme was introduced in 2021. 

However, the Mental Health Crisis Breathing Space (MHCBS) mechanism has been woefully underutilised. Despite the Treasury estimating that 27,000 people would enter the MHCBS in 2021-22, just 3,302 accessed the scheme in its first 32 months.

People have told us how difficult it is to manage finances whilst experiencing a mental health crisis.

We have called for Mental Health Crisis Breathing Space to be automatically offered to people detained under longer term sections of the Mental Health Act. We hoped to amend the Bill to include this in the legislation.

We’re grateful to Lord Davies of Brixton for proposing and championing the amendment in the chamber. We’re also grateful to Baroness Tyler, Baroness Neuberger, Baroness Bennett, Baroness Watkins and Lord Kamall for their support of our amendment in the debate.

While ultimately the amendment was not accepted and the wording of the Bill will not change, there is good news: the Minister for Mental Health, Baroness Merron, said that the government is committed to addressing the need for greater take up of the scheme by creating an “explicit requirement” to offer Breathing Space in the code of practice associated with the Act. 

You can catch up on Lord Davies’ speech and Baroness Merron’s response below:

There’s still a long way to go before the new Bill becomes law. Once it passes all the stages in the House of Lords, it will be debated and scrutinised in the Commons. 

We will, of course, continue to follow the Bill’s progress very closely and hope to work with politicians across Parliament to ensure the link between mental health problems and financial difficulty is fully addressed.

To stay up to date with the Bill and our work, follow us on LinkedIn or Bluesky. If you’d like to share your experiences of mental health problems with us, please consider joining our Research Community. We’d love to hear your thoughts!