Damage to children’s mental health caused by the coronavirus crisis could last for years without a “rocket boost in funding” for children’s mental health services, the Children’s Commissioner for England has warned.
‘Landmark’ reforms of mental health laws must also ensure ongoing funding for councils’ mental health services, the LGA has said.
Councils have had to find innovative ways to support and promote children and young people’s emotional wellbeing during the pandemic.
People’s mental wellbeing will play a crucial role in every aspect of recovery planning, the LGA has said in a new joint report with the Centre for Mental Health.
New research sets out the challenges of delivering better outcomes for children and young people – and how councils can mitigate these by acting early to resolve issues before they escalate.
Councils are seeing more than 560 cases of children with mental health disorders every day – an increase of more than 50 per cent in just four years.
Prime Minister Theresa May has pledged extra funding for councils to help develop and strengthen their suicide prevention plans, as part of a wider prevention plan on mental health.
More than a third of local areas in England have reduced real-terms spending on ‘low-level’ children’s mental health services, according to a report by the Children’s Commissioner for England.
Increased funding and improved crisis care were among the pledges for children and young people’s mental health services in the NHS’s recently published Long Term Plan.