The new government has the opportunity to create the conditions for everyone to experience good mental health across the UK. This page sets out what needs to be done to improve the mental health of the UK population.
While the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have important roles to play in the prevention of mental health problems in these jurisdictions, this page focuses on what the UK government can do. This includes how it can work with local authorities to support good mental health for all.
In order to improve the mental health of the UK population, the new government must:
- Increase investment for the mental health of new parents and babies.
- Protect children’s mental health, including making sure schools are mentally healthy and free of bullying.
- Tackle poverty by helping people to move into good jobs with decent pay and conditions, and make sure a safety net is in place for those who can't work.
- Work to tackle racism, homophobia and all other forms of discrimination.
- Ensure increased access to nature and engagement in physical activity.
- Protect people from harmful junk food, smoking, alcohol misuse, online harms and gambling.
- Develop a comprehensive, cross-government plan to prevent mental health problems, alongside the funding to make it happen.
What’s the current situation with the UK population’s mental health?
We have made huge progress in improving physical health in this century and the last. For example, child mortality and deaths from communicable diseases have fallen sharply in most of the world.
But mental health is going in the wrong direction. Levels of poor mental health are enormous and rising. There are an estimated 1.2 million people on NHS waiting lists in England1, and 1 in 4 people experience a diagnosable mental illness in a given year.2
The rise in mental health problems among young people is particularly concerning: In 2017, the proportion of young people (17- to 19-year-olds) with a probable mental disorder was estimated at 10%, but by 2022, following the pandemic, this rose to 26%.3
We know that the prevention of many mental health problems is possible.
The evidence is clear that it is the places and circumstances in which people are born, grow, study, live and work that have a powerful influence on their mental health.4 And there are well evidenced programmes in communities like anti-bullying and parenting programmes, that we know are effective.
We need to tackle mental health problems not only because of the distress they cause, but as part of making sure we have a good society and a strong economy; mental health problems have an economic and social cost of at least £118bn.5
What does the new government need to do to improve the nation’s mental health?
- Protecting people’s mental health requires change at different levels of our society. Central government has a role in ensuring that the structure of our society is conducive to good mental health. This is a job for all government departments, and includes making sure that: good labour conditions are available; people’s incomes and housing are adequate, and; people are protected from discrimination.
- Local councils also have an important role. They can help to support social connection and make sure that people can experience and enjoy nature – but they can only do that if they are funded and supported by national government.
- Local councils need to be supported to create healthier physical environments. They can do that by accelerating the switch to cleaner energy and transport; supporting active travel and public transport; and ensuring everyone can access green space. They also have an important part to play in improving protection from junk food, smoking, alcohol misuse and gambling. The NHS and health boards have an important role to play in supporting an encouraging a preventative approach to mental health problems, too.
- Central and local government need to provide the sorts of programmes that we know are really effective for protecting people’s mental health all across the UK, including anti-bullying programmes for all children and support for all parents at risk of poor mental health. This requires new funding, and reversing the cuts that local councils have experienced. The long-term return on investment for anti-bullying programmes is about £7.50 for every £1 invested, and the return on investment in parenting programmes can be up to £15.80 for every £1 spent.6
- Every school and college should be a mentally healthier place for children and young people. We need support from central and local government for schools and colleges, so that an understanding of mental health can inform all parts of school life. Teachers and other staff need to understand mental health, including the impact that trauma can have on students, and this needs to be connected with the work of counsellors, mental health support teams and others working in schools.
- We need continued work to eliminate racism, homophobia and other forms of discrimination in schools, the mental health system and wherever it is found in our institutions. This needs to include the discrimination faced by the most minoritised communities, including asylum seekers and refugees.
- To connect all this work, we need a detailed, long-term, funded plan from the new government, that sets out how all the different parts of government can work together to improve the population’s mental health.
How do we pay for it?
There is very limited funding for measures which improve the population’s mental health.
The public health grant, which should be used by local authorities to fund preventative interventions including public mental health interventions, has seen a £1bn real-terms cut since 2015.7
This cut needs to be reversed, but that will not be enough on its own. Currently, only a tiny fraction of the grant is spent on programmes specifically focused on mental health.
We need dedicated new funding for public mental health interventions. We know that these will deliver benefits for both people’s mental health and the economy in the future. But government systems do not always take into account the future benefits of such investment.
For this reason, we need a fundamental change in how the Treasury conceives of investment. One way of making this change would be to have a specific funding stream for preventative work, in addition to the existing categories of ‘capital’ and ‘revenue’ spend.8
The UK parliament and government also must provide an adequate settlement to devolved governments so that they can undertake these preventative actions to support mental health.
What do we want from MPs?
- We are calling for all MPs to do everything they can to support a mentally healthier society, in the ways we’ve outlined above. They should use their role in their constituency as well as within their parties to promote effective work to support people’s mental health both locally and nationally
- The recommendations set out here are unlikely to be successful unless they are co-ordinated through a detailed long-term, funded plan. We need a plan which includes all government departments, to make sure that everything possible is being done to improve the population’s mental health. Departments with a particularly important role in supporting the mental health of the population include the Department for Work and Pensions, the Home Office and Education. All MPs have a role to push for support for a comprehensive mental health plan within their parties.
[1] Report of the Public Accounts Committee, available here: publications.parliament.uk
[2] NHS figure: www.england.nhs.uk
[3] In 2017, the proportion of young people with a probable mental disorder was estimated at 12% for 7- to 16-year-olds and 10% for 17- to 19-year-olds, but by 2022, following the COVID-19 pandemic, this rose to 18% and 26% respectively. See here for more information: digital.nhs.uk
[4] Marmot (2010) Fair Society, Health Lives www.instituteofhealthequity.org
[5] Mental Health Foundation: The economic case for investing in the prevention of mental health conditions in the UK. (n.d.). www.mentalhealth.org.uk
[6] Mental Health Foundation The economic case for investing in the prevention of mental health conditions in the UK. (n.d.). www.mentalhealth.org.uk
[7] See King’s Fund analysis here: www.kingsfund.org.uk
[8] Demo has recently advocated this model, in its paper Revenue, capital, prevention: A new public spending framework for the future.
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