Anne Longfield’s report, The state of children’s mental health services, found that while children make up a fifth of the population they account for just a tenth of total mental health spending.
The report acknowledges that services are improving. An extra £60m investment last year has meant an additional 53,000 children have entered treatment. The number of children with an eating disorder needing help has increased by 50 per cent since 2016/17.
But Longfield warns that many children are still missing out and “we are still a decade from a decent mental health service for children”.
Last year only around three per cent of children were referred to services last year, which is one in four of children with a diagnosable mental health condition in need of support.
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