Becoming an approved mental health professional (AMHP)

An approved mental health professional (AMHP) is a person approved by a local authority to act under the Mental Health Act 1983, including deciding whether someone should be detained in hospital. In England you can come from one of four professions: social work, nursing (mental health or learning disability), occupational therapy or chartered psychology. Approval lasts five years, comes with a training condition of at least 18 hours a year, and is granted by the local social services authority, not by a university or regulator. Doctors cannot be AMHPs.

Who approves AMHPs

Section 114 of the Mental Health Act 1983 gives local social services authorities the power to approve a person to act as an AMHP. The authority must be satisfied that the person has appropriate competence in dealing with people who are suffering from mental disorder. It may not approve a registered medical practitioner.

Regulations set the details. For England the Secretary of State makes them, and for Wales the Welsh Ministers do. The Act lets the regulations cover how long approvals last, the courses people must take before and during approval, and the factors used to judge competence. The version of the 2008 England regulations on legislation.gov.uk is the original text, so check current wording with an employer or local authority before relying on it.

Which professions can apply

The 2008 regulations list four professional requirements:

• a registered social worker
• a registered nurse whose field of practice is mental health or learning disability nursing
• an occupational therapist on the relevant register
• a chartered psychologist listed on the British Psychological Society register who holds a practising certificate

The registers named in the 2008 text have since changed, for example for social workers. In practice, you need current registration with the regulator for your profession, and your local authority will check it. If your registration is suspended, your approval is suspended too, and it ends if you stop meeting a professional requirement.

Our guides to the adult social worker role and the mental health nurse mention AMHP work as a later step, and the occupational therapist guide covers the third profession.

Approval across authorities

In England, an AMHP is a person approved by any local social services authority whose area is in England, and in Wales it is a person approved by a Welsh authority. An AMHP can agree to act on behalf of another authority, but must tell the approving authority in writing when that starts and when it ends. If you are approved by a second authority, the earlier approval ends. The approving authority keeps a record of each AMHP’s profession, date of approval, training and any suspension, and holds it for five years after the approval ends.

Training and approval

Under the regulations, a person who has not been approved before in England and Wales must have completed an approved course within the last five years before the authority can approve them. The authority also has to take into account a set of competence areas. These include applying values to the role and knowing the legal and policy framework.

Once approved, an AMHP is approved for a period of five years. The approval comes with conditions: at least 18 hours of relevant training agreed with the approving authority each year, telling the authority if they agree to act for another authority, and stopping work as an AMHP and telling the authority at once if they are suspended from a register or no longer meet a professional requirement.

We have not verified the length of the approved courses, who funds them, or how AMHP rotas and any allowances work. Those vary between employers, so ask the local authority or the NHS trust that employs you.

What to check before you apply

• Your employer. The local authority approves you, even if you work for an NHS trust. Ask who will sponsor the course and approve you.
• Funding and time. Ask whether the employer pays for the course and gives protected study time.
• Rota duties. Ask how often you would be on the AMHP rota and what that means for out-of-hours work.
• Supervision. The role involves hard decisions, so ask what supervision you would get. The regulations also require the authority to keep a record of your training.
• Changes in the law. Pending amendments to the 1983 Act from the Mental Health Act 2025 were listed on legislation.gov.uk as not yet in force on 22 October 2026. Your employer will tell you when they affect your work.