According to many experts, the UK is experiencing a mental health crisis . In England alone, an estimated 1.2 million people are awaiting mental health help.
Around 270,000 of those waiting are children . The burden of poor mental health is escalating rapidly – costing the UK economy almost £120 billion yearly, mainly due to lost productivity. This amounts to 5% of the UK’s GDP.
There’s a clear need to address mental health care in the UK. While most parties have outlined plans in their manifesto to address the crisis, most of these measures will still fall short – regardless who wins. The Conservative party manifesto advocates a two-pronged approach.
First, like most of the parties, they pledge additional funding for support and treatment – mainly for children and young people. This makes sense as early intervention might prevent some mental health problems from getting worse. They also plan to expand their recent early support hub scheme for people aged 11-25 to every community by 2030.
These hubs provide young people with therapy and advice on a numerous issues. However, nothing in their plans suggests they’ll help young people negotiate the socioeconomic circumstances that often trigger mental health problems. The second aspect of the Conservatives’ mental health plans is more problematic.
They plan to make significant changes to who can qualify for benefits and personal independence payments (PIP). The party plan to roll-out more “objective” PIP assess.
