Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

We know that children and young people are waiting too long to access mental health services within the National Health Service.

In the 12 months since the General Election in July 2024, almost 40,000 more children and young people received support compared to the previous 12 months. This is helped by delivering our commitment to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers this Parliament, three years ahead of schedule. But more is needed, and transforming the system will take time, but we are committed to delivering a new approach to mental health.

As prioritised in the NHS Medium Term Planning Framework, we are taking action to reduce the longest waits for specialist children and young people’s mental health services by addressing variation across the country and reducing inequalities in access. We will ensure that services for children and young people are as productive as possible to bring down the length of time children and families are left waiting.

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to boost mental health support across the country, including children and young people’s mental health services. We are accelerating the rollout of Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges to reach full national coverage by 2029. As part of this, we are investing an additional £13 million to pilot enhanced training for staff so that they can offer more effective support to young people with complex needs, such as trauma, neurodivergence and disordered eating.

We are also developing a new cross-Government mental health strategy for England, covering all ages, to be published later in 2026. It will be informed by the findings and recommendations from the Independent Review into Prevalence and Support for Mental Health, ADHD And Autism; and align with the modern service frameworks for children and young people and severe mental illness, and the new Mental Health Act.