One of the most valuable and most overlooked entitlements in the care system applies to people who have been detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act. It is called Section 117 aftercare, and where it applies, the resulting care is provided free of charge, with no means test — potentially including the full cost of a care home place. Families frequently miss it, and even professionals sometimes overlook it, so a great deal of care that should be free is wrongly paid for privately or means-tested. Knowing about it can protect a family’s savings entirely.
What Section 117 is
Section 117 of the Mental Health Act places a joint duty on the NHS and the local authority to provide aftercare to certain people who have been detained in hospital for treatment under the Act. Aftercare means the services needed to meet a need arising from or related to the person’s mental disorder, with the aim of reducing the risk of their condition worsening and of readmission. Critically, aftercare provided under Section 117 cannot be charged for — it is not subject to the usual social care means test.
Who is entitled
Entitlement turns on how the person was detained, not on their diagnosis. Section 117 applies to people who have been detained under specific “treatment” sections of the Mental Health Act — most commonly Section 3, and certain forensic sections (such as Sections 37, 45A, 47 and 48). It does not arise from a purely voluntary (informal) admission, nor from a short assessment detention under Section 2 alone. If you are unsure which section applied, this is worth establishing precisely, because it determines a potentially large entitlement.
Once someone qualifies, the duty continues for as long as they need aftercare for their mental health condition — it can last years, and it is not ended simply because time has passed. The duty can only be discharged when both the NHS and the local authority are satisfied the person no longer needs the aftercare services.
What it can cover
Section 117 aftercare covers the services needed to meet needs arising from the mental disorder. Depending on the person’s situation this can include care home or nursing home placement, supported living, community mental health support, and other services — provided free where the placement or support is meeting an aftercare need related to the condition that led to detention. For a person who, for example, has advanced dementia with severe behavioural and psychological symptoms that led to a Section 3 detention, a subsequent care home placement to meet those needs may fall under Section 117 and therefore be free.
Why it is so often missed
Several things conspire to make families pay when they should not. The section under which someone was detained is not always clearly communicated. On discharge, the focus is on arranging care quickly, and the funding route may default to an ordinary means-tested social care assessment. Years may pass, the original detention fades from memory, and no one revisits it. The result is that people entitled to free aftercare are wrongly charged — sometimes for a long time.
What families should do
Establish the section. Find out exactly which section of the Mental Health Act the person was detained under. Records, the discharge documentation, or the mental health team can tell you. If it was Section 3 (or a qualifying forensic section), Section 117 is likely to be in play.
Ask directly whether Section 117 applies. Ask the local authority and the mental health team, in writing, whether the person is entitled to Section 117 aftercare and whether their current care is being provided under it. Do not assume it has been considered.
Challenge charges that should not exist. If a relative is being means-tested or asked to pay privately for care that meets a need related to the mental disorder behind a qualifying detention, raise Section 117. Where care has been wrongly charged, families can seek to have the funding corrected and, in some cases, past charges reimbursed.
Resist a premature discharge of the duty. Section 117 should only be ended when the person genuinely no longer needs aftercare for their condition. If there is a move to discharge it while needs continue, question it — ending the duty removes free funding.
Get specialist advice. Section 117 is a technical area, and mental health law charities and solicitors specialising in community care can help establish entitlement and challenge wrongful charging. Given the sums involved, advice often pays for itself many times over.
The bottom line
Section 117 aftercare is one of the few routes to genuinely free, non-means-tested care — including care home fees — and it hinges on a single fact: whether the person was detained under a qualifying section of the Mental Health Act. Families who establish the section, ask directly whether Section 117 applies, and challenge charges that should not exist can protect the family home and savings entirely. It is well worth the effort to check.
How to use this guide in practice
Don’t read this as general information — use it as a worksheet. Write down the details of the person who needs care, the current limits of the situation at home, the weekly budget, the documents you already have, whether the local authority or NHS may fund some of it, and who you’ve already spoken with. Then turn every unclear point into a specific question. A family that arrives with a clear picture usually gets more useful answers than one calling under stress with scattered information.
Keep one simple rule: anything about admission, weekly fees, funding and whether a home fits must be confirmed directly with the care home or the competent body (your local authority, the NHS, or the CQC). This guide prepares the search — it does not replace official decisions.
Want a clear shortlist before you start ringing round?
If you don’t know which care homes to contact first, Curalune Care Help can prepare an ordered shortlist of 3–5 suitable options — with CQC ratings, contacts, useful links and a ready-to-send enquiry.
The service helps you organise the search. It does not replace the home’s own assessment and does not guarantee a place, a price or bed availability.
Important limit
Curalune offers practical help with the search and orientation. This article is general information, not legal, financial, or medical advice. Admission, fees, bed availability, eligibility, and the final assessment always rest with the care homes and the competent bodies (your local authority, the NHS, the CQC) — and complex financial or legal questions warrant a regulated financial adviser or a solicitor specialising in later-life care.
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