Charity discloses 'unacceptable low' levels of spending on public mental health

Mental health charity Mind has revealed that local councils spend what they consider to be an ‘unacceptable low’ amount on public mental health spending in England.

It is the responsibility of local councils to prevent mental and physical health issues within the communities that they operate over, however, the results show that local authorities are allocating less than 1.4 per cent of their public health spending budget on mental health support.

Annually, local authorities allocate millions of pounds for the prevention of physical health problems, such as cancer and heart disease. The amount that local authorities allocate for the prevention of public health problems is substantial, this includes assigning funding for increasing physical activity, sexual health, anti-obesity drives, and stop smoking initiatives.

Chief executive for Mind, Paul Farmer said: “Just like physical health, we all have mental health. Mind’s findings show, however, that while local authorities are happy to spend on preventing physical health problems, their equivalent spending on mental health is unacceptably low.

“We need to invest in everyone’s mental health, particularly for people who are more likely to become unwell such as younger people, pregnant women, people who are isolated, or those living with a long term physical health problem.”

The research shows that the amount allocated to spend on mental health problems is approximately £40 million which is significantly lower than the £671 million set aside for sexual health campaigns, £108 million for anti-obesity drives and £160 million for stop smoking initiatives.

The information obtained by Mind indicated that public mental health was categorised under miscellaneous public health spending by local council when compiling reports of their spending.

Mr Farmer added: “With demand for mental health services increasing, antidepressants on the up and more people accessing talking therapies, we are beginning to see the scale of the unmet need for mental health services in England. As a society we must start looking at what we can do to help prevent people from developing mental health problems in the first place."

Mind has requested that a national strategy is introduced by the next Government to support local authorities and help them allocate their budgets to prevent mental health problems, in turn reducing the number of people affected.

Mr Farmer said: “Local authorities need much clearer guidance and support on how best to tackle mental health problems. We want the next Government to introduce a national strategy to ensure local authorities know what to do, and use their budgets to prevent mental health problems developing and reduce the number of people becoming unwell.”

Mental health problems are estimated to cost the UK £100 billion pounds per year through the distribution of benefits, lost revenue and the cost of treatments.

Mind works to offer support and information to anyone who is affected by mental health problems, as well as campaigning to increase awareness, promote understanding and improve mental health services with the UK.