Core indicator
Health
Child referrals to mental health services
Last updated March 2023
(March 2023)
*Referrals to mental health services only extends to 2016/17. Last reviewed: July 2024
What is this sector and how are we measuring it?
Poor mental health can be a risk factor for serious violence. Rates of weapon carrying are higher among children with mental health problems, including conduct problems and hyperactivity, as well as those who self-harm. We also know that receiving talking therapies can reduce violence and associated behaviours.
Learn more about YEF’s work within the health sector, and the evidence-based approaches for what works in reducing violence.
We’ve used the total number of children in contact with NHS-funded secondary mental health, learning disability and autism services as our core measure for this sector. This captures children who have been referred to these services by their GP or another healthcare professional and includes both those who have received services and those who are still waiting to be seen. This measure should count the children most likely to need help. But it’s important to remember that it depends on whether a child or their family seek treatment and whether they receive a referral. This can be affected by changes in awareness, diagnosis and reporting.
What does our core indicator show?
Overall, this measure shows a worsening picture. The number of children referred to NHS mental health services has been increasing since 2017/18. In 2022/23, over a million children were referred – up 11% on the previous year (2021/22), up 44% on the year before Covid-19 (2019/20) and almost double (up 98%) what it was in 2016/17, the earliest year in our data. These increases could partly be explained by increased awareness or changes in referrals and reporting, but other data – such as the NHS’s Mental Health of Children and Young People survey – also indicates children’s mental health may be getting worse.