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Overview

There is no planned implementation date for the Liberty Protections Safeguards and it is unclear if they will be implemented as originally drafted. We are closely following any developments in this area and will adapt and amend the course accordingly should either the legislation or relevant Code of Practice and statutory regulations be subject to change.

This course provides health and social care professionals with an introduction to both the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Mental Health Act 1983.It provides you with an opportunity to critically examine the concepts of mental capacity and mental disorder within the context of the current policy and legislative framework relating to this field of practice. Your studies will be focused on the context within which these Acts are applied and how they relate to a wider safeguarding agenda.

  • This course provides the necessary pre-requisite knowledge for those who are not Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) trained, which is a prerequisite for those aiming to undertake the Best Interest Assessor course.
  • Teaching is built around the needs of experienced busy professionals who have chosen to study this course as part of their continuing professional development and career progression.
  • You will learn alongside a range of other professionals from a variety of disciplines allowing you to share valuable knowledge and experience.
  • You will explore capacity and mental disorder from both a medical model and alternative perspectives.

This course will assist you to develop the competences required in order to relate your learning to your own practice.

Key Information

Entry requirements

Entry requirements for this course are normally:

  • Possess a (any subject) degree or an equivalent qualification.
  • Be a Health or Social Care Practitioner.
  • Have relevant experience within a health or social care setting.

Please be aware that this course may be taken as a precursor to the Best Interest Assessor course. If you intend to continue on to the Best interest Assessor Course, please be aware of the additional entry requirements for the Best Interest Assessor course.

If you do not possess a degree but have relevant experience, you may be required to undertake preparatory work to demonstrate your ability to study at postgraduate level.

If you are not registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) or Social Work England (SWE) and if your first language is not English, you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum for IELTS is 6.5 overall with no element lower than 6.0, or equivalent. Read more about the University’s entry requirements for students outside of the UK on our International Entry Requirements page.

Start dates

1 February 2026

Duration

5 weeks, part-time

Credits: 15 Masters level credits

Code: HMS1061

Course Detail

You will be taught through a series of lectures and independent study, which will be supported by the University’s virtual learning environment.

Assessment will include submission of a case study. Your module specification/course handbook will provide full details of the assessment criteria applying to your course.

This course has modules making up 15 credits, with each credit being 10 hours of study (150 hours in total). An average [Approximately*] 16% (24 hours) of the study time on this course is spent with your tutors [face to face or online] in [lectures, seminars, tutorials, practicals and workshops]. The remainder of the time will be spent on independent study. Assessments takes place through a variety of [exams, coursework, etc].

Subject to mode of study. *Based on current core and compulsory modules. Calculated using data from the academic year 2024/25, as of November 2024.

Teaching

The teaching year for most courses normally starts in September with breaks at Christmas and Easter, finishing with a main examination/assessment period around May/June. Teaching on other courses including professional courses, postgraduate taught, research, distance learning and apprenticeship may have other start dates including January and May. All start dates can be found on each course page and term dates are also available. Students on a full-time course may have to attend every day of the week. Students who choose to study a full-time course on a part-time basis will generally attend modules at the same time as our full-time students. Timetables are normally available one month before registration.

Our courses are taught at our University campus and you can expect that your lectures and seminars will be held face to face, except in cases of emergency or if specifically stated otherwise in the module description.

Feedback

Feedback (usually written) is normally provided on all coursework submissions within three term time weeks – unless the submission was made towards the end of the session in which case feedback would be available on request after the formal publication of results. Feedback on exam performance/final coursework is available on request after the publication of results.

Progression

You may progress to the next stage of your course or research degree, subject to meeting University assessment criteria and professional, statutory, or regulatory body guidelines.

  1. Our teaching staff rank first in England for the proportion with higher degrees and teaching qualifications, as well as being top five for those holding doctorates (HESA 2025). So you’ll learn from some of the best, helping you to be the best.

  2. We are second in the country for National Teaching Fellowships, which mark the UK’s best lecturers in Higher Education, winning a total of 24 since 2008 (2025 data).

  3. We won the first Global Teaching Excellence Award, recognising the University’s commitment to world-class teaching and its success in developing students as independent learners and critical thinkers (Higher Education Academy, 2017).

Visit ‘Our experts’ page where you’ll find in-depth profiles of all our academic staff

Postgraduate Open Days


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Research excellence

Research plays an important role in informing all our teaching and learning activities. Through research our staff remain up to date with the latest developments in their field, which means they can help you to develop knowledge and skills that are current and highly relevant.

Find out more about our research staff and centres

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Further Study

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Research Excellence

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Important information

When you enrol as a student of the University, your study and time with us will be governed by our terms and conditions, Handbook of Regulations and associated policies. It is important that you familiarise yourself with these as you will be asked to agree to them when you join us as a student. You will find a guide to the key terms here, along with the Student Protection Plan.

Although we always try and ensure we deliver our courses as described, sometimes we may have to make changes for the following reasons:

Changes to a course you have applied for but are not yet enrolled on

If we propose to make a major change to a course that you are holding an offer for, then we will tell you as soon as possible so that you can decide whether to withdraw your application prior to enrolment. We may occasionally have to withdraw a course you have applied for or combine your programme with another programme if we consider this reasonably necessary to ensure a good student experience, for example if there are not enough applicants. Where this is the case we will notify you as soon as reasonably possible and if you are unhappy with the change we will discuss with you other suitable courses we can transfer your application to. If you do not wish to transfer to another course with us, you may cancel your application and we will refund you any deposits or fees you have paid to us.

Changes to your course after you enrol as a student

Changes to option modules

Where your course allows you to choose modules from a range of options, we will review these each year and change them to reflect the expertise of our staff, current trends in research and as a result of student feedback or demand for certain modules. We will always ensure that you have an equivalent range of options to that advertised for the course. We will let you know in good time the options available for you to choose for the following year.

Major changes

We will only make major changes to non-optional modules on a course if it is necessary for us to do so and provided such changes are reasonable. A major change is a change that substantially changes the outcomes, or a significant part of your course, such as the nature of the award or a substantial change to module content, teaching days (part time provision), type of delivery or assessment of the core curriculum. For example, it may be necessary to make a major change to reflect changes in the law or the requirements of the University’s regulators or a commissioning or accrediting body. We may also make changes to improve the course in response to student, examiners’ or other course evaluators’ feedback or to ensure you are being taught current best practice. Major changes may also be necessary because of circumstances outside our reasonable control, such as a key member of staff being unable to teach due to illness, where they have a particular specialism that can’t be adequately covered by other members of staff; or due to pandemics, other disasters (such as fire, flood or war) or changes made by the government.

Major changes would usually be made with effect from the next academic year, but may happen sooner in an emergency. We will notify you as soon as possible should we need to make a major change and will consult with affected groups of students and any changes would only be made in accordance with our regulations. If you reasonably believe that the proposed change will cause you detriment or hardship we will, if appropriate, work with you to try to reduce the adverse effect on you or find an appropriate solution. Where an appropriate solution cannot be found and you let us know before the change takes effect you can cancel your registration and withdraw from the University without liability to the University for any additional tuition fees. We will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring to another university if you wish to do so and you may be eligible for an exit award depending on how far through your course you are.

In exceptional circumstances, we may, for reasons outside of our control, be forced to discontinue or suspend your course. Where this is the case, a formal exit strategy will be followed in accordance with the student protection plan.

The Office for Students (OfS) is the principal regulator for the University.

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