Increased government funding for children and young people’s mental health

Release Date: Friday 13th May 2022

To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, the Department for Education has announced a further £7 million for schools and colleges to train a Senior Mental Health Lead, bringing the total amount of funding for 2022/23 to £10 million.

Aidan Jones, Chief Executive at relationships charity, Relate, which provides counselling in schools across England, said:

"We welcome the Government’s announcement of a further £7 million to create more Senior Mental Health Leads in schools and colleges and wholly support the ambition to create a culture of greater openness around mental health. From our work providing counselling in over 100 schools across England, we know a lot about the pressures children and young people face around issues such as bullying, body image and parental conflict. A growing body of research has also found the pandemic has had a worrying impact on young people’s wellbeing."

“Senior Mental Health Leads promise to play a crucial role in building relationships with local health services but alongside this, targeted support for children and young people is really vital.  Experience shows us that counselling can make a positive difference to children’s lives yet while Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have government-funded schools counselling services, England is lagging behind. A recent poll on behalf of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy found 82% of parents with children aged four to 17 believe counselling or psychotherapy should be freely available to all school children, throughout all schools. Relate agrees this should be a priority for the Government as it seeks to improve the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people.”