The Government is incredibly driven to improve children and young people's mental health.
- NHS Long Term Plan increased investment in mental health services by at least £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 so that an additional 345,000 children and young people are now able to get the necessary NHS-funded mental health support.
- Mental health support teams now cover 26 per cent of pupils in schools, a year earlier than originally proposed in the Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision Green Paper. This will increase to 399 teams, covering around 35 per cent of pupils by April 2023, with over 500 planned to be up and running by 2024. Rollout of further mental health support teams is being developed and will be confirmed in due course.
- On average, each mental health support team will work with around 8,000 children across 10-20 schools and colleges. All schools involved will have a mental health lead. Each mental health support team is made up of education mental health practitioners and senior clinicians or higher-level therapists as well as a team manager and some admin support. The teams act as a link with local NHS children and young people’s mental health services.
- The Government's Plan for Patients, Sep.2022: The Government committed to expanding mental health support for children at school, given that half of mental health conditions take root by the age of 14. This included a commitment to boost the number of mental health practitioners in primary care and to strengthen mental health support in schools. Furthermore, the Department for Education has committed to offer all state schools and colleges a grant to train a senior mental health lead by 2025, and over 11,700 schools and colleges have taken up the training offer so far.
- It is increasing the provision of counselling in schools and is offering £300 million to support mental health services in schools and colleges.
- The Government has announced within the UK Youth Parliament Report on Mental Health its intention to set up a new national strategic partnership to focus on improving the mental health of 16-25 year olds. This will join up key parties to encourage better coordination of services and ensure better results for students. Universities are being asked to significantly improve their mental health support to students.
- The Department for Education will lead a working group into the transition students face when going to university, to ensure they have the right support in place.
- The Department for Education will also seek to develop a workable disclosure agreement for universities, giving them permission to share information on student mental health with parents or a trusted person.