NSPCC calls for government funding to provide 24-hour Childline service

The charity said requests for the helpline's counselling services are so high that it is unable to meet the needs of 25 per cent of children and young people who contact Childline due to a lack of resources.

Figures published today by the NSPCC show that Childline delivered 101,454 counselling sessions related to mental and emotional health in 2016/17 compared with 90,355 in 2014/15, an increase of 12 per cent in two years.

The charity also said two thirds of Childline counselling sessions about mental health issues were delivered outside school hours, from 5pm to 9am, indicating an increased need for 24-hour support.

According to the NSPCC, some children and young people told Childline counsellors that they had been signposted to the service outside working hours by child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and local authority children's services.

The findings follow a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by the charity which revealed that more than 50,000 referrals to CAMHS were rejected last year since many cases did not meet the required clinical threshold.

The FOI request uncovered that from more than 650,000 cases referred to CAMHS, a total of 109,613 cases were rejected for treatment between 2015 and 2017.

Peter Wanless, NSPCC chief executive, said Childline plays an important role in helping children and young people with mental health issues who did not meet the criteria for CAMHS.

He said the charity is urging the government to increase its funding for Childline so children and young people could be helped day and night or at the weekend.

The service relies mainly on donations from supporters with around 20 per cent of its funding provided by the government.

Wanless said the charity was also calling for the public to sign its petition to the government asking for Childline to play a bigger role in the proposals put forward in its recent green paper on mental health support in schools.

"Increasing mental health support in schools will be an important step to ensure more children get the help they need," he said.

"But we know that children don't only experience mental health problems during the school day.

"Government funding to Childline has remained the same, while demand for counselling about mental health continues to increase.

"It is vital that government urgently provides more funding to help children who don't have access to support elsewhere."

A consultation on the green paper, which includes a £95m proposal to fund a senior lead for mental health in every school, closes on 2 March.