1 in 10 mentally ill children miss 15 days each term

The Centre for Mental Health have launched their Future Minds campaign following their new research that estimates that the long-term impact of the childhood mental health crisis is costing the UK over £1 trillion in lifetime lost earnings.

This new research is part of a new campaign that involves four of the UK’s leading children and young people’s mental health organisation: Centre for Mental Health, Centre for Young Lives, the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition, and YouMinds, alongside the support of the Prudence Trust. The campaign is urging the government to deliver reform and to boost investment in young people’s mental health services.

The campaign reflects an unprecedented crisis in children and young people’s mental health, with one in five children and young people experiencing a common mental health condition. Children’s and young people’s mental health services remain underfunded relative to demand.

More than one in ten pupils with mental health difficulties aged eight to 16 miss more than 15 days of school in a term. Only 1.5 per cent of pupils without a mental health condition miss this much school.

Further data shows that the cost of poor mental health is contributing to reduced tax receipts, increased benefit spending, £24 billion annual costs employers in lost productivity, and a £1 trillion in lost earnings. The research also reveals that the cost of deteriorating mental health between young people’s referral and receiving support stands at £295 million a year, meaning too many young people reach crisis point without intervention, straining emergency services.

The costs of persistent absence from school mirrored the rise in mental ill health, and were at £1.17 billion in the 2023-24 school year.

Baroness Anne Longfield, executive chair of the Centre for Young Lives and a former children’s commissioner for England, said: “One in five children and young people now experience a mental health problem — almost double the 2017 figure. This decline in young people’s mental health is one of the biggest health, social, and economic challenges of our time.

“Failing to adequately address it creates far costlier outcomes across a range of public services, including in health, education, welfare, policing, and justice. It harms productivity, earnings, and the government’s agenda for economic growth. Current trends are simply not sustainable.

“Our organisations are joining together in this unprecedented way because we believe the next Spending Review and the government’s next 10 Year NHS Plan must include a bold and ambitious plan for reform and investment in children and young people’s mental health services and support.

“It is wishful thinking to hope that this crisis is a cultural phenomenon or a result of over-medicalisation. Parents, health professionals, teachers and children themselves see and experience it every day. They know how poor mental health is holding back the life chances of so many of our young people.

“The prime minister’s own priorities already provide opportunities to prioritise children and young people’s mental health and to reverse these worrying trends. They are proven cost-effective models of care that could have a transformative effect on young people’s health and our economy with the right levels of investment.

“The cost of doing nothing would be a disaster for those children struggling with mental health problems, but also for our nation, by seriously impeding many of the government’s crucial missions and ambitions.”

The Future Minds Campaign are calling on the government to reform mental health facilities and investment for young people, as it is 100 times cheaper to treat a young person in the community compared to in an inpatient setting.

Ahead of the goverment’s Spending Review and the NHS’s 10 Year Plan, the Future Minds Campaign is calling for changes. These include demanding increased investment in children and young people’s mental health services to meet 70 per cent of diagnosable need by the end of this Parliament, up from the 40 per cent current need met, the rollout of Mental Support Teams nationwide, and an independent government-commissioned review to examine the causes of the rise in young people’s mental illness.