ASCL comment on NAO’s child mental health report

Commenting on the National Audit Office’s (NAO) report ‘Improving children and young people’s mental health services’, Anna Cole, Parliamentary and Inclusion Specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, said:

“The government deserves credit for its ambition to improve mental health services for young people, but it is clear from this report that its current initiatives don’t go far enough or fast enough. Schools continue to experience great difficulty in accessing child and adolescent mental health services for young people who desperately need specialist care.

“At the same time, their own budgets are under severe pressure making it more difficult for them to provide the school-based mental health support which is a lifeline to many young people.

“Schools need sufficient funding to provide that support, and they must have timely access to local specialist services for young people who require that level of care.”