Please note, this page contains discussions around death and dying.
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, often known as the Assisted Dying Bill, is a proposed law that would allow mentally competent adults who are terminally ill, with a life expectancy of six months or less, to choose help from a doctor to end their life. It sets out strict safeguards, including medical checks, assessments of mental capacity, and protections against pressure or coercion.
The Bill only applies to people with irreversible illnesses - they have no chance of recovering - and doesn't include disability or mental illness on its own. It hasn't yet become law and must be fully approved by Parliament.
The Assisted Dying Bill has been approved by MPs in the House of Commons and is now being examined in the House of Lords. It recently had its Second Reading in the Lords, where Peers agreed that the Bill should continue and be looked at in more detail. Lords also approved an amendment to set up a special committee that will take evidence over three weeks on how the law would work in practice. This stage allows experts and public to feed in views before the Bill moves on to its next steps.
Follow the Bill’s progress here.
Before a Bill comes into law, MPs and Peers have the opportunity to propose changes to it, called amendments. Right now, there are some amendments being discussed which might help to protect people with eating disorders – but we don’t yet know if these will make it into the Bill’s final state.
Read the Institute for Government’s guide to amendments here.
If Parliament agrees to the Assisted Dying Bill, it won't come into effect straight away and could take up to four years to put the new system in place. This is because a number of steps would be needed, including creating new safeguards, setting up the oversight process and training professionals.
How long this takes will depend on how quickly the House of Lords deals with the Bill, if it chooses to pass it at all. If it is approved, it's likely that the earliest a terminally ill person could legally access an assisted death would be late 2029.
If the Bill becomes law, Parliament would still be able to amend it in the future. Laws can be updated or strengthened if problems become clear or if further safeguards are needed. Regular reviews are also written into the Bill so that Parliament can monitor how the law is working and make changes if required.
Find out how Bills become law here.
We are deeply concerned about the Bill as it currently stands. As written, it contains a dangerous “anorexia loophole”. This loophole could mean that someone with an eating disorder might be viewed as “terminally ill”, not because their illness is genuinely untreatable, but because their physical health has worsened due to gaps in the treatment and support they should have received. This poses an unacceptable risk.
Eating disorders are not terminal illnesses, and they should never be treated as such - recovery is always possible. During the most severe stages of an eating disorder, the illness can affect how someone feels about their health and their future, so strong safeguards are essential to ensure people receive care and protection when they are most vulnerable.
At this stage, the Bill is still changing. More than 900 amendments have been proposed, and it may continue to evolve over the coming months, or it may not pass at all. Because of this, it is too soon to know what the final version will look like.
Right now, our priority is to make the Bill as safe as possible for eating disorders while it is still being debated. Two important amendments, tabled by Lord Falconer and Baroness Parminter, would reduce risks by making it clear that problems with eating or drinking caused by mental illness should not make someone eligible for assisted death. These changes are similar to what we supported previously in the House of Commons.
It is important that these amendments remain on the table as the Bill moves through the Lords. Once all changes have been considered, we will examine the final version carefully and assess whether we think it still poses a risk to people with eating disorders. The safety of our community is our number one priority, and we will strongly oppose anything which might put those we support at risk.
We understand that waiting for Government decisions can feel unsettling, especially around serious issues such as assisted dying.
We’re here for you – please reach out to our Helpline or support services if you need us.