Secretary of State for Education Bridget Phillipson has announced the across the country to provide 100% of school pupils with mental health support by 2030.

While we're pleased the Government recognises the importance of supporting children in all schools, this announcement falls short of what鈥檚 actually needed.

A 鈥榤issing middle鈥� of children 鈥� 730,000 a year1 - fall between the level of support offered by MHSTs and CAMHS will still not receive adequate support. The Government has missed an huge opportunity to support them.

Remain without help

Martin Bell, our Head of Policy and Public Affairs, said:

听鈥淭his announcement is an important first step in providing universal support for children and young people in schools 鈥� but without access to trained counsellors alongside these Mental Health Support Teams many children and young people will remain without the help they need.

鈥淭his will do little to meet the needs of the 鈥榤issing middle鈥� of children who require more than pastoral care and the low-level interventions provided through MHSTs, but don鈥檛 require a referral to psychiatrists or Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

鈥淲e estimate this could be around 730,000听children and young people each year who will fall through the gaps in support available.听听听听听听

Clear referral pathway听 听 听听

鈥淚nstead, the government should have focused on an enhanced MHST+ model, which includes a clear referral pathway to funded counselling provision.

鈥淩olling out greater access to counselling in schools increases access to a non-stigmatising and effective form of early intervention for reducing psychological distress in children and young people.听

鈥淎 professionally trained school counsellor gives a young person a place that is focused 100% on their needs 鈥� a safe space to help them to understand and cope with what they鈥檙e going through.听

鈥淭here鈥檚 a children and young people counselling and psychotherapy workforce that can step into additional counselling roles and take on paid work, complementing MHSTs, if funding was made available.

Bigger impact

鈥淗aving counsellors as part of multi-disciplinary teams available to schools would have a much bigger impact and relieve pressure on school staff.

鈥淲hile there are positives in today鈥檚 announcement, the Government has missed a huge opportunity to help all children in need of mental health support.鈥�

听

1 A reasonable gauge of the size of the 鈥榤issing middle鈥� demographic is the proportion of CAMHS cases that are closed after no or just one contact, which sits at 39%: this indicates that 39% of the probable mental health condition cohort could be suited to alternative forms of provision such as counselling, amounting to about 730,000 individuals in 2024.听