Ministers have committed £1.25 billion to tackling the mental health crisis during this Parliament but how this funding is to be allocated and whether schools will receive any additional support is unclear.
The issue was raised by James Bowen, director of middle leadership union NAHT Edge, during an address at the Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Services conference run by Inside Government last week.
Mr Bowen said: “On average three children in every classroom have a diagnosable mental health issue, and one in five children will experience a mental health difficulty at least once in their first 11 years.
“We welcome the government’s commitment to allocate an extra £1.25 billion over the course of this Parliament to supporting children’s mental health. However, we feel there needs to be greater clarity in terms of how this money should be spent and the role schools should play in the delivery of such support.”
Cuts to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and other services have meant that schools have faced higher referral thresholds for their students.
In fact, research from Centre Forum recently found that almost one quarter of the under-18s referred to mental healthcare providers are turned away.
It means that schools themselves are dedicating more and more resources to interventions and preventative work to support pupils’ mental health.
Mr Bowen’s comments came after the think-tank IPPR warned that schools were facing a “perfect storm” on mental health. This is because the number of young people who need help is growing, but NHS and local authority early intervention services are seeing cuts in funding.
The IPPR report recommends that the government guarantees every secondary school access to a mental health professional and that this should eventually be funded by the NHS.
Mr Bowen warned that the focus on academic progress and attainment in “relatively few core subjects” leaves schools with “a tough job” to ensure subjects like PSHE and wellbeing do not become marginalised.
He said: “Many schools devote a significant amount of time and resources to supporting children’s emotional wellbeing. For some children this universal promotion of emotional wellbeing is not enough and there are times when pupils will need a greater level of support or intervention.
“Schools need to be able to call on specialists to support those children who need it most, and will look to access services such as CAMHS or educational psychologists. But such services are also under pressure from increasing demand, growing complexity and, perhaps most importantly, decreasing budgets.
“There is a gap in provision between the work schools do and when services such as CAMHS step in. Greater opportunities for schools to gain quick access to trained counsellors, specialist nurses and other trained professionals could really have a positive impact.”
Mr Bowen urged the creation of “an extra layer of support”, with the education, health and social sectors working together to ensure children – including those below the current thresholds – can be seen quickly.
He added: “This kind of early intervention has the potential to reduce the pressure on services such as CAMHS and also to give schools confidence that there is someone they can turn to for support before a child or family reach crisis point. This will rely on proper and appropriate levels of funding.”