Mental health charities have warned that services for children are overstretched with almost four million children and young people being referred for help with “no progress” being made
Almost four million children and young people could be referred to mental health support this Parliament, charities estimate.
The Future Minds campaign, made up of young people’s charities and mental health organisations, warned that “support is not keeping up with rising levels of need”. Labour’s two years in power has led it to conclude that its response on the issue of young people’s mental health “requires urgent improvement”.
“No progress has been made on introducing new access and waiting time standards for children and young people’s mental health services,” the group said.
The coalition, which includes the Centre for Young Lives and Mind, estimated that 3.9 million referrals could be made in England between now and August 2029.
They are based on the average 115,000 new referrals per month of children and young people for mental health support in the year to June 2026.
Haroon Chowdry, chief executive of the Centre for Young Lives, said: “The mental health of children and young people is one of the defining challenges of our time.
“The support is not keeping up with rising levels of need. The Government does deserve credit for making progress in some areas.
“But overall, its response falls well short of the scale of the challenge and therefore requires urgent improvement. “If the Government does not change course, then it will break its promise to raise the healthiest generation of children ever.
“More than a million children – the equivalent of the population of Birmingham – could lose out on support. “Piecemeal action will not be enough.
“The forthcoming mental health strategy must be a turning point, backed by the investment, ambition and reform to ensure every young person can have good mental health.”
A Government-commissioned review into ADHD, autism and mental health is expected to be published soon.