Government responds to youth mental health funding calls

UK Youth has welcomed the Government’s commitment to supporting young people’s mental health.

To mark children’s mental health week, UK Youth joined more than 25 organisations, led by children and young people’s mental health charity Place2Be, in writing to the Government calling for urgent invesment in children’s mental health services.

Ndidi Okezie OBE, UK Youth chief executive officer, added her name to a letter to Health and Social Care Secretary Victoria Atkins, highlighting how it is vital young people get the support they need to help them to thrive.

Place2Be has now received responses from both the Department for Health and Social Care, and the Department for Education.

David Johnston OBE, children, families and wellbeing minister, replied on behalf of the DfE, with Maria Caulfield, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Mental Health, responding on behalf of the DHSC.

Mr Johnston, Conservative MP for Wantage and Didcot, wrote: “Children and young people’s mental health is a priority for this government and we know schools have an important role to play.

“The department is committed to ensuring schools and colleges are safe, calm and supportive environments which promote and support mental wellbeing.

“You will hopefully be aware we see the voice of young people as a key pillar of an effective whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing.

“We know that involving young people in decisions that impact them can benefit their mental health and wellbeing by helping them to
feel part of the school, college and wider community.

“As you acknowledge, we are continuing to grow a new workforce of education mental health practitioners to expand the support provided by mental health support teams.

“We will be extending coverage to an estimated 44 per cent of pupils and learners by the end of this financial year and at least 50 per cent by the end of March 2025.

“As well as our significant investment in MHSTs, we are offering funding for every state school to train a senior mental health lead by 2025 who can put in place the most appropriate and effective approach to promote and support mental wellbeing in their setting.

“More than 14,400 settings have claimed a training grant so far including more than seven in 10 state-funded secondary schools, and we have recently launched an online resource hub and targeted support toolkit, both hosted on the Mentally Healthy Schools site, to help sustain the benefits of this training.

“Further information is available at tinyurl.com/2J2FBNWJ.

“Beyond schools, we are supporting the expansion and transformation of mental health services through the NHS Long Term Plan.

“As part of the accompanying investment of up to an additional £2.3 billion a year in expanding and transforming NHS mental health services since 2018 to 2019, with the aim that 345,000 more children and young people will have been able to access NHS-funded mental health support by March 2024.”

Ms Caulfield, Conservative MP for Lewes, wrote: “I can assure you the Government remains committed to expanding and transforming NHS mental health services for children and young people.

“I was particularly pleased to be able to respond to the Parliamentary debate in Westminster Hall on January 30 about children’s mental health week 2024.

“It is vital children and young people experiencing mental ill health are supported early on to avoid their conditions becoming more severe in later life.

“Early mental health intervention for children and young people is often less expensive per contact than for other types of support, such as inpatient care, and is therefore more cost effective.

“That is why we are continuing to expand NHS mental health provision to support even more people with their mental health, with spending on mental health increasing by more than £4.5billion in cash terms since 2018/19.

“As part of this, 750,000 children and young people aged under 18 were supported through NHS-funded mental health services in the year leading up to December 2023, which is a 31 per cent increase since March 2021.

“We recognise there is still a lot of stigma attached to mental health and the results from the YouGov survey you refer to are disappointing to see.

“I am grateful to colleagues at the Department for Education for taking action to raise awareness.

“Through statutory health education, all pupils are taught how to recognise the early signs of mental wellbeing concerns, including common types of mental ill health, including anxiety and depression.

“They are also taught where and how to seek support, which includes recognising the triggers for seeking support and whom in school they should speak to if
they are worried about their own or someone else’s mental wellbeing, or ability to control their emotions, including issues arising online.

“We have committed to offering all state schools and colleges a grant to train a senior mental health lead by 2025.

“This will support schools to introduce effective, whole school approaches to mental health and wellbeing.

“More than 15,100 schools and colleges have received a senior mental health lead training grant, including more than 70 per cent of state-funded secondary schools in England.

“In addition, there are now about 400 mental health support teams in place across England, covering 3.4 million children, or about 35 per cent of pupils in schools and colleges.

“We estimate this will increase to 44 per cent by April and are working to increase this coverage to 50 per cent of pupils by March 2025.

“Our ambition is to go further in the future and I would dearly like to see all pupils and students in all schools and colleges in England having access to a mental health support team.

“Our evaluation of mental health support teams has been positive so far and we will continue to evaluate their impact.

“This may inform a decision on wider expansion in the coming years beyond the current spending review period.”

UK Youth is a leading charity with a vision that all young people are equipped to thrive and empowered to contribute at every stage of their lives. With an open network of more than 8,000 youth organisations and nation partners; UK Youth reaches more than four million young people across the UK and is focused on unlocking youth work as the catalyst of change that is needed now more than ever. To find out more, visit ukyouth.org 

UK Youth is involved in a range of programmes designed to help young people thrive, such as outdoor learning, physical literacy, social action and employability, including Hatch, a youth employability programme run in partnership with KFC. For more on UK Youth’s programmes, see ukyouth.org/what-we-do/programmes