Three-quarters of primary children to lack access to school mental health teams

Ministers have been accused of failing to grasp the “tidal wave” of mental ill-health blighting children’s lives, after research found only a quarter of English primaries will be able to offer vital school-based support by the end of next year.

With almost one in five pupils aged seven to 16 now thought to have a mental health disorder, new specialist support teams were set up to work with children in schools, addressing early symptoms and reducing pressure on overstretched NHS services.

According to new figures shared exclusively with the Guardian, however, pupils in almost three-quarters (73.4%) of primary schools will have had no access to the new mental health support teams (MHSTs) by the end of 2024.

Older pupils fare slightly better, with MHSTs expected to be in place in about half (53.5%) of secondary schools by the end of 2024, according to figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats. The government is yet to confirm future funding plans.

The research follows reports that a quarter of a million children in the UK with mental health problems have been denied help by the NHS, with some trusts failing to offer treatment to 60% of those referred by GPs.

Anne Longfield, a former children’s commissioner for England, said: “These shocking figures show the scale of the crisis in unmet mental health need that our children are now facing. Poor mental health, self-harm and in some cases suicide attempts have become part and parcel of growing up for many children, yet children’s mental health services are unable to meet the overwhelming demand.”

MHSTs were widely welcomed when they were first announced by the government in 2018, promising early intervention in a school-based setting for children aged five to 18 with mild to moderate mental health problems to try to avert a crisis.

School leaders say the MHSTs are having a positive impact but the rollout has not gone fast enough, leaving tens of thousands of children without adequate support either in school or child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).

There are also concerns that the teams are struggling to meet the needs of children with more complex conditions who do not reach the high threshold set for a CAMHS referral but need more support than MHSTs can offer.

The Lib Dems sent freedom of information requests to every NHS integrated care board (ICB) in England, asking for details about MHSTs operating or due to be operational by the end of 2024. Thirty-one of the 42 ICBs supplied data.

The responses revealed wide variations in spending per pupil on MHSTs in different areas of the country, ranging from £87 in the area covered by NHS Surrey Heartlands ICB, down to £24 in the North East and North Cumbria ICB, and £34 in Hertfordshire and West Essex.

The Lib Dem education spokesperson, Munira Wilson, said: “Our children’s mental health services were in crisis before the pandemic, but Conservative ministers have failed completely to grasp the scale of the tidal wave in mental ill-health that has emerged since.

“Under the Tories, a school that sees an NHS mental health professional for a day a week is one of the lucky ones. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of children are left waiting to see if mental health support will be rolled out at their school or sacrificed to pay for the government’s economic incompetence.

“Yet failing to roll out the programme will simply make waiting times for acute CAMHS even worse.”

In some areas, the Lib Dem data shows MHSTs do not cover secondary schools at all. Data for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly shows that the MHSTs only cover primary schools, and even then only 47% of primary schools in the area are covered.

The Surrey Heartlands ICB, which covers most of the county, operates MHSTs in four out of 10 secondary schools, but in fewer than one in 10 primaries, with four more MHSTs due to become operational by the end of next year. The Lib Dems say Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and West Berkshire ICB has had the slowest rollout, with existing or planned teams covering just one in five secondary schools and one in 10 primaries.

According to the government, MHSTs are ahead of schedule, and it has pledged to increase the number from nearly 400 in April 2023, covering 35% of pupils and learners in England, to more than 500, covering about 44%, by the same time next year. A government spokesperson said: “These teams represent just one of the ways we are supporting school children’s mental health, and come on top of our annual £2.3bn investment into mental health services.”

‘Under the Tories, a school that sees an NHS professional one day a week is lucky’ Munira Wilson

Liberal Democrat MP